Brush & Floss With Vision Loss

Today’s Functional Friday is brought to you by our daily struggle to brush our toddler’s teeth! Y’all, it is a STRUGGLE!

My sister is a dental hygienist so I have pretty high expectations to uphold when it comes to having clean teeth! She is the only person who has ever cleaned my teeth in my 30 years of life. I’ve always been one to appreciate a white smile and pretty teeth and in fact, that’s one of the first things that attracted me to Matt. He has the most handsome smile. (Insert googly eyes here). Needless to say, I’m trying to instill these healthy habits in my son but my word, it’s no easy feat!

While pretty teeth are nice, oral care is incredibly important for so many reasons. According to Mayo Clinic, our oral health can offer clues about the overall health of our body. Poor oral health can contribute to health conditions such as endocarditis, an infection in the inner lining of the heart chambers; cardiovascular disease, such as clogged arteries and stroke, pregnancy and birth complications related to periodontitis, and pneumonia caused by bad bacteria being pulled into the lungs. Certain health conditions can also impact your oral health. Diabetes puts people at risk for gum disease and gum disease can make it harder for diabetics to control their blood glucose levels. Those with HIV/AIDs have increased oral problems such as mucosal lesions. Osteoporosis is associated with periodontal bone and tooth loss. And lastly, decreased oral health is observed as Alzheimer’s disease progresses.

General Oral Care Recommendations:

• Brush your teeth at least twice a day with a soft-bristled brush using fluoride toothpaste.

• Floss daily.

• Use mouthwash to remove food particles left after brushing and flossing.

• Eat a healthy diet and limit food with added sugars.

• Replace your toothbrush every three months or sooner if bristles are splayed or worn.

• Schedule regular dental checkups and cleanings.

• Avoid tobacco use.

(Mayo Clinic, 2020)

Oral Hygiene and Visual Impairment:

As you can see, oral care is SO incredibly important and while it may seem like a simple task for you and I, many people with vision loss struggle to maintain proper oral care for a variety of reasons. While eye conditions, like RP, do not have a direct effect on a person’s oral health, vision loss in itself may lend to other problems, which impact their ability to physically complete oral care as well as access routine dental care. For example, people with vision loss often lose the ability to drive, making it more difficult to access their dental office for routine cleanings and check-ups.

As I mentioned earlier in the post, my sister is a dental hygienist. One day, she told me she had a patient in her office who was expressing some frustrations with their diminishing vision. They began telling my sister about their difficulty getting toothpaste on their toothbrush, so they just stopped trying. Simple modifications can help a person with vision loss maintain a healthy smile and avoid frustrations such as these. Check out some of the strategies below!

Low Vision Strategies:

• Create a workspace beside the sink with all items needed for oral care.

• Use your sense of smell to double-check yourself! For example, my toothpaste smells very different than my face wash, even though they are in similar shaped tubes

• Use your sense of touch to distinguish between the shapes of bottles

Photo Description:

The photo on the right is a clear picture of Crest toothpaste beside a bottle of face wash. Both bottles have similar shapes, making it easy for someone with vision loss to confuse the two. The photo on the right is a blurred image of the same photo to simulate vision loss with severe cataracts. Notice how much more difficulty low vision makes it to differentiate between the two.

Funny Story: When I was in middle school, I was in a hurry to brush my teeth one night and grabbed a tube of toothpaste, popped some on my toothbrush and started scrubbing away. I immediately gagged and spit out my toothpaste just to look at the tube. It was beef flavored dog toothpaste. I was in such a hurry, I didn’t even bother to look at the tube and this wasn’t even because of an eye disease!! Lesson learned…

Creating a workspace can give a person with vision loss their own personal workspace so they can consistently keep the items they need in one space without fear of a loved one misplacing or moving the item. This minimizes the risk for mistaking oral care items, which could lead to physical harm, or at least a very bad taste in your mouth.

Photo Description:

Photo of a clear container with orange rim, holding toothbrush and toothpaste to demonstrate the use of a workspace. Use what works for you- a container like this, a cup, a section in a drawer!

Let’s look further into more specific task modifications:

Brushing Teeth

• If locating the toothbrush is difficult, try using bright colored electrical tape or duct tape around the base of your toothbrush as pictured below, to provide contrast.

Photo Description:

Photo on the Left is a cream toothbrush on a white background. Photo on the right is the same toothbrush with orange duct tape to provide contrast.

• Many people with vision loss frequently report difficulty actually placing the toothpaste on the toothbrush itself. Eliminate the number of steps in the task by squirting the toothpaste directly into your mouth from the tube.

• Amazon, and I’m sure other retailers, actually sell “prepasted,” disposable toothbrushes which could also be a great option for someone who prefers not to use the above strategy.

• When I was younger, Crest and Oral-B, came out with mini toothbrushes with paste in them, as well. I’m sure they aren’t recommended over actual toothbrushes, but something is better than nothing, right?!

Flossing

• Use floss picks for ease of access to floss.

• Keep your floss in your workstation for easy access.

Photo Description:

Photo of a bag of flossers. I'm fortunate enough to still have vision to perform flossing with ease; however, I simply prefer these over regular floss for convenience alone.

Mouth Wash

• Retrieve mouthwash directly from the bottle rather than pouring into a cup to reduce spills.

• Use rubber bands, or other tactile makers to help differentiate between bottles, if needed. (See Blog Post “Weak Eyes-Organize” for more marking tips!).

Photo Description:

Two different bottles of mouthwash, both in different bottle shapes. The bottle on the right has a rubber band around the lid to demonstrate marking techniques to differentiate bottles.

I hope you find these strategies useful in helping people maintain their ability to care of their pearly whites!

Stay functional and fulfilled, my friends!

Love,

Ali

Disclaimer: Please remember that while I am an Occupational Therapist, I am not your Occupational Therapist. Please keep in mind, these recommendations are meant to be extremely generalized and are merely strategies that have worked for my loved ones with vision loss. Additionally, I have no affiliation or connection to any product or brand mentioned in my post.