Can better oral hygiene in the ICU reduce incidence of pneumonia?
An intervention that may reduce the incidence of hospital-acquired pneumonia by up to 50% in ventilated patients in intensive care units is being tested by researchers from the University at Buffalo, supported by a $1.69 million grant from the U.S. National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. The 3-year longitudinal, double-blind study will involve 250 patients whose mouths will be swabbed with a bactericide to see if it can protect them from this potentially deadly infection, said Frank Scannapieco, DDS, PhD, the study’s principal investigator, who is professor and associate chair of the department of oral biology in the UB School of Dental Medicine. …