Get To Know More About Oral Care And Aspiration Pneumonia

By Andrew Stevens


Pneumonia basically is a breathing problem that results in the swelling as well as infections to the lungs and large airways. Aspiration pneumonia develops when liquids, food, saliva, or vomits find their way through your airway into the lungs rather than being swallowed via the esophagus into the stomach. Because there are millions of tiny organisms present in the mouth, oral care and aspiration pneumonia will, therefore, more likely to develop.

In consequence, flossing as well as brushing of the mouth can assist in the elimination of micro-organisms residing in the mouth. Additionally, oral care will more likely prevent the residence of such bacteria and their access to the lungs. Such bacteria reach your lungs through aspirated particles of food and saliva. Proper mouth hygiene, however, will assist make any such element accessing and reaching the lungs be less foul. Pneumonic conditions as well can be avoided, especially proper mouth hygiene.

Usually, the mouth is often forgotten in healthcare. Normally, people wash hands and wear gloves to prevent spreading the harmful bacteria. However, the mouth is often gotten yet it is one that would result in bacteria pneumonic conditions. Basically, the mouth is a wide gateway to your body and germs love to hide in the gingival spaces between the gums and the teeth. If they park in those spaces for over 24 hours, they become calcified plaques, and bacteria love to stick on such plaques.

Basically, the kind of bacteria that causes the pneumonic condition usually depends on several factors. Such factors are such as your health, whether you have been hospitalized recently, recent antibiotic use, a weakened immune system, and where you live. At the same time, aspiration of foreign materials may be increased due to several factors. Such factors include drinking too much alcohol, old age, coma, and being less alert because of an illness, medicines or other reasons.

Other factors that can increase the likelihood of developing aspirated pneumonia are for instance swallowing issues or even poor reflexes towards gagging. This is especially common in people who remain unconscious or are semi-conscious as a result of an injury to the brain or stroke. On the other hand, general anesthesia could raise the likelihood of this condition. The condition is evidenced by different symptoms. These are for example foul-smells, chest pains, coughing of dark or greenish sputum that also has blood or pus, breath shortness, fever and finally fatigue. Other symptoms may include swallowing difficulties, excessive sweating breath odor, as well as wheezing.

When carrying out physical examinations, tests done by doctors can reveal crackling sounds generated by the lungs, decreased oxygen and mental awareness and rapid pulse. Examples of tests usually carried out include blood culture, chest x-ray, arterial blood gas, sputum culture, swallowing tests as well as bronchoscopy.

Nonetheless, the treatment of such pneumonic conditions will be dependent on the extent of the condition. Certain individuals may have to be hospitalized for treatment. In certain instances, breathing machines, as well as ventilators can be relied on to aid breathing. Antibiotics are as well relied on for the treatment.

Oral care is, however, an important routine that need to be observed by patients. When properly done, development of aspiration pneumonia can be prevented. This is because proper oral hygiene helps to reduce the amount nasty bacteria from the mouth.




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