Baseline Results of an Oral Hygiene Trial in Low-income Senior Housing

Objectives: To present baseline measures of a bi-level intervention to improve oral hygiene among adults living in low-income senior house.

Methods: Participants were recruited from low-income senior housing in Connecticut. A community-level intervention consisted of three health fairs open to all residents and the individual-level intervention was a tailored adapted motivational (AMI) session. Primary outcome measures were Plaque Score (PI) with range of 0-100% and Gingival Index (GI) with a range of 0-3. Surveys assessed demographic characteristic, beliefs and behaviors which provided data for the tailored intervention.

Results: 331 participants completed surveys. Mean age was 66.2 (sd:10.4) 58% female, 58% Hispanic, 52.3% completed high school or more, 16% were married, mean monthly income was $1028 (sd:$525), 33.5 % had a dental visit in the past 6 months, 13% had Medicare only, 20.8% Medicaid only, 45.9 % Medicare and Medicaid and other 19.9%; 36.9% rated oral health excellent or good. Mean baseline GI was 0.38 (sd:0.30), PS was 71.7% (sd:18%). PS and GI were significantly correlated (Rho=0.43; p<0.001). The distribution of PS and GI were highly skewed so these measures were dichotomized at the median and combined into two categories – low on both measures and other. Logistic regression found that males were 2.04 (CI:1.1,3.7 ;p<0.02) times more likely than females to be in the high GI/PS category. Those with less education were 3.7 (CI:1.5,9.5; p<.01) times more likely than college-educated to be in the high GI/PS group.

Conclusions: The sample was highly diverse with low monthly incomes, as expected in low-income senior housing. Participants had remarkably good gingival health regardless of relatively high PS. The participants were well-insured and had good access to dental care although these variables were not significantly related to the GI/PS in the mulitvariate analysis.