Oral Health Promotion (OHPROM) Strategy for Persons with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities

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People with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD) living in group homes are more likely to have poor oral hygiene, poor dietary practices, increased decay, periodontal disease, and total tooth loss than the general population—a significant health disparity. In the short term, the effects of a Phase II stratified cluster randomized controlled efficacy trial can provide evidence that argues for public health and organizational policies that include oral health promotion (OHPROM) strategies for persons with IDD. In the long term, this study is expected to demonstrate that the OHPROM strategy targeting caregivers and persons with IDD may potentially be generalized to other organizations that provide services to persons with IDD.
Assuming future studies also show that oral health outcomes are positively affected by this intervention, the overall health care cost could be reduced, because persons with IDD will have less need for expensive procedures resulting from lack of proper oral health behaviors.