Mouth Odor on Preventing Pneumonia by Oral Frailty

Mouth Odor as a Precision Care Indicator for Preventing Pneumonia Among Middle-aged and Older Adults With Oral Frailty

This research plan aims to first collect data on the oral function and oral hygiene status of the elderly population in the community and to understand the normal model of oral frailty among the older adults in the community. Subsequently, a comparison will be made between the oral status of hospitalized patients and the community-dwelling elderly population. The goal is to verify whether oral odor can be used as an objective biological indicator following intervention.

The first stage will aim to examine the relationships between the level of oral frailty and pneumonia-associated pathogens, as well as to establish a mouth odor database among community-dwelling people; The second stage will compare the differences of the level of oral frailty, pneumonia associated pathogens, and mouth odor between 144 middle-aged and older healthy people and 160 hospitalization patients. The third stage will confirm whether the mouth odor is an effective biological maker to show the changes of oral frailty, pneumonia-associated pathogens, and mouth odor after oral management rehabilitation.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age ≥ 50 years old,
• Alert and oriented,
• With sufficient comprehension and cooperation,
• Willing to participate in oral assessment.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients who score below 5 on the General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition (GPCOG),
• Patients with oral treatments such as oral cancer treatment,
• Patients with oral treatments such as periodontal disease treatment.