Oral health assessments at home
The bigger first look — for a new patient, or for every resident of a home — with a written plan that care staff can actually use.
The assessment ends with a written plan, in plain words, for whoever helps with daily care.
An oral health assessment is broader than a check-up. It looks at how the mouth is affecting the person: whether they can chew, whether dentures are helping or hindering, whether dry mouth from medication is causing decay, whether pain is being mistaken for something else in someone who cannot say. It ends with a care plan, not just a list of teeth.
For nursing homes it is the starting point of a clinic day and the document HIQA inspectors look for. For a family it is the honest baseline before deciding what to do.
Who this is for
- New patients we have not seen before, particularly after a hospital stay or a move into care
- Every resident on the first clinic day in a nursing or residential home
- People living with dementia, where behaviour change may be dental pain
- Anyone whose eating, weight or speech has changed and nobody has looked in the mouth
What happens on the visit
Medical and social history
Conditions, medications, dexterity, who helps with brushing, what the person can and cannot manage. For a resident, the nurse in charge is part of this conversation.
The examination
Teeth, gums, soft tissues, dentures, dry mouth, signs of trauma, and an oral cancer screening. Digital X-rays where they will change the decision.
Risk and priorities
What is urgent, what is important, and what is fine to leave. We are explicit about which problems affect eating, comfort or dignity, and which are cosmetic.
A written care plan
Daily mouth-care instructions for the person and their carers, what we recommend treating and in what order, and when to review. Left in the home, and with the family where they want it.
Afterwards
The plan is reviewed at the next visit. For care homes we provide a short mouth-care guide for staff and are happy to walk a shift through it.
Cost and cover
An assessment is covered under the DTSS for eligible medical card holders as an examination. Any treatment that follows is quoted before it starts. See what a visit costs and every way it can be paid for.
Questions families ask about this
If your question is not answered here, please give us a call — it is quicker than a form.
How is this different from a routine examination?
A routine examination checks the mouth. An assessment also looks at what the mouth is doing to the person — eating, weight, comfort, dignity — and produces a written care plan for whoever helps day to day. New patients and care homes usually start here.
Do you assess people with dementia?
Yes, and it is one of the most useful things we do. Unexplained agitation, refusing food or pulling at the face are often dental pain. We go at the person's pace and involve family and staff throughout.
Is the care plan something HIQA will accept?
It is written for exactly that purpose — a dated, clinician-signed oral health assessment and care plan on file for each resident.
Arrange a visit
Tell us who the patient is and where they are, and we will phone you back the same working day with what a visit would involve and what it is likely to cost.