Dialysis and Dental Treatment Bulletin Board
Dialysis and dental treatment are important topics for every dialysis patient. Oral health for dialysis patients impacts their overall health. Know how to help people with kidney disease who need dental treatment is an important topic in the dialysis unit.
Teach about oral health and how it can impact kidney health.
- Why your mouth matters:
- Some studies show poor oral health may decrease albumin
- Better oral health may help prevent heart disease
- Poor oral health can increase overall inflammation, which is hard on kidneys.
- You need your mouth to eat!
- “Did you know?”: Bad bacteria increases inflammation and may impact albumin levels
- 6 things to do support oral health: Brush, floss, dentist, limit sugary meals, ice (referring to chewing ice often done by dialysis patients), healthy low sugar snack ideas
- Tips for finding a dentist if you don’t have dental insurance (a common problem for many low income dialysis patients) – this includes talking with your social worker, using a local dental school, working out payment plans.
- Pair this with Bulletin Board with our fantastic Oral Health Handout.
This downloadable file has two sections:
First, slides you can print out and pop up on the board. No cutting required. This is slides 30-46. When you print, select those slide numbers to print. You could then just arrange the pages on your board.
If you want to recreate the file exactly like the picture, print slides 4-34. Cut, paste, and arrange.
As a monthly theme, I think it would be fun to pass out toothbrushes and floss as a Valentine gift for patients with this board. Also could use a real toothbrush and real floss as props on the board.
Alternative titles could be “Pucker up!” or “Keep your mouth kissable”
You can download the file by becoming a member of the Renal Education Library or by visiting RD2RD.com and downloading there.