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The Enigma of Poor Oral Health in Long Term Care Homes

November 19, 2025 | 6:00 – 7:00 pm CT
Registration closes 11/19 at 5:15 pm CT
Speaker: Arlynn Brodie, RDH, MHS, PhD

ADHA Members/Subscribers: Free |  Nonmembers $45

Oral health is a key indicator of overall health, well-being, and quality of life; however, resident oral health in long term care (LTC) homes remains poor despite many years of research and intervention. Institutional ethnography (IE), a new lens from which to explore the LTC oral health problem, suggests the institutional organization of LTC homes could be a contributing factor to resident’s poor oral health. Results show that health care aides (HCAs), in the absence of textual guidance from regulation and standards, relied on their personal experiences and used their discretion to provide oral care for residents. This presentation will provide insight as to why HCAs are relying on their own devices to provide oral care and offer suggestions for policy and practice changes.

 

In this webinar you will:

  • Discuss why residents in long term care homes may be experiencing poor oral health
  • Describe the importance of guiding texts in relation to the oral health of residents in long term care.
  • Identify the next steps in policy and practice to improve oral care in long term care.
 
Speaker:
Arlynn Brodie, RDH, MHS, PhD is a pioneer of the profession as a clinician, educator, researcher and regulator. Arlynn is passionate about access to dental hygiene care and as a storefront dental hygiene clinic and mobile practice owner in Canada, she provided care for the community and medically compromised patients in long term care (LTC) homes. The poor oral health of patients in LTC inspired Arlynn’s PhD studies to explore the problem through the lens of  institutional ethnography. As an educator Arlynn empowered students to embrace alternative practice to serve their communities and presented nationally on outcomes from student involvement in the community. Arlynn is a Distinguished Service Award recipient from the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association.
 
1.0 LIVE/Interactive CE offered for those in attendance. Certificates will be available under the "Completed" tab in your CE Smart Learning Center immediately following the event. 

Can't attend live? The recording will be automatically available in your CE Smart Learning Center within 24 hours post-event. 1.0 CE can be earned after successful completion of a post-test.



The American Dental Hygienists’ Association is an approved provider of dental continuing education as recognized by the Dental Board of California, Provider #5238.
When
11/19/2025 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

To register for this event:

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  2. Click "Register Myself" below event description.
  3. Click "Proceed to Cart" and complete payment on next page.