[Dysphagia] Oral thrush

[Paula.Leslie at newcastle.ac.uk (Paula leslie)]

Hi Alexandra

I'm not the best oral examiner in the world so I probably over estimate but 
these look like many of the mouths I see on the wards.  I am obsessed about 
oral hygiene.  If in doubt I always mention it to the nurse or HCA, often 
gently like "is this person receiving any treatment for an oral infection?"  
to find out if the med team already know. If they do that's great and then I 
go on about oral health and chest infections (ad nauseam... does get the 
message through), and how painful mouths affect eating and swallowing.  So how 
great it is that they're treating it.

If they aren't treating then I ask them to come and have a look and "oh is 
that thrush etc?" Then I go on about oral hygiene and chests..... you know.  
So - get it treated.  If it's bad enough I'll say that they might want to 
consider non-oral supplementation because the pt is never going to manage 
adequate hydration and nutrition orally.

But cases differ, most of mine are elderly care, H&N is different, Ca is 
different.  If any hint of it then do mention it, it's up to the med team to 
decide what to do, but you can give them some info on oral hygiene, chests, 
hydration and nutrition etc that will help inform their decision.

And some lovely pictures for (UK) breakfast time!

Good Luck!

Paula



http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/dermnet/thrush.html

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/pictures22/cdc/PHIL_2925_lores.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/cdc/2925.html&h=476&w=700&sz=24&tbnid=ViT9RpqPxz_10M:&tbnh=93&tbnw=138&hl=en&start=5&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2Boral%2Bcandida%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DRNWE,RNWE:2005-51,RNWE:en>===== Original Message From Alexandra Mitchell <pawprint1980@yahoo.com.au> 
=====
>Hello everyone,
>
>  I am fairly new to speech pathology and I was wondering if someone could 
inform me about:
>
>   What oral thrush looks like and
>   When it is significant/severe enough to inform the medical team that they 
need to do something about the amount etc
>  Thanks so much for any information
>
>  Alexandra

Paula Leslie
Degree Programme Director
RCSLT Specialist Advisor in Dysphagia

Surgical and Reproductive Sciences
Faculty of Medical Sciences
University of Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 4HH
UK
+44 (0) 191 222 6279(T)/8988(F)
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sars/postgrad/MSc.htm