Assistive tools for dysphagia
A suction toothbrush and an oral light
When the stage of dementia has progressed to severe, persons often become unable to clean their teeth. Furthermore, they often refuse to open their mouth for cleaning. At this stage, aspiration pneumonia could occur. Although it is important to clean the oral cavity of patients, it can be difficult as they sometimes bite their caregivers’ fingers when cleaning. Therefore, I developed two items for a mouth cleaning kit named “Kyuty[suction]” and “Hotal [firefly].” They are commercialized by Fine (https://www.fine-revolution. co.jp/).
“Kyuty” is a type of toothbrush with a tube which is connected to a suction machine, so that you can clean the oral cavity while suctioning. Due to specific modifications on the tube and brush, we succeeded to make the suction power stronger than other similar brushes.
“Hotal” is an example of an oral light tool which helps patients open their mouths. This kit helps care- givers to clean the oral cavity easily and speedily. Reduced bad breath was also reported by the nurses and caregivers after using this kit. You can learn how to use them on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=BZuwJsfQ9pk).
A small table over the bed
A small table over the bed that you can lower the height.
A pillow to stop backward tilting
A pillow to stop backward tilting.
A tray with tableware glued on to stop swallowing in one gulp
A tray with tableware glued on to stop swallowing in one gulp. Patients drink water/soup with a straw or spoon.
1 Some persons lift the dishes like this and try to drink all at once. This makes it easy to aspirate.
2 I'll show you how to make a set to prevent chugging using an over table.
3 Prepare such a revised tableware and holding plate.
4 Cut a slit in a dish tray like this.
5. Glue the bottom plate as shown in the photo with water-resistant adhesive.
6 Insert the bottom plate into the slit.
7 Make a long holding plate to hold the bottom plate, and glue a fastener strip to the back of the plate.
8 Secure the entire dish tray to the over table with this fastener strip.
9 Secure it in two places as shown in the photo.
10 When you try to lift the tableware, the bottom plate gets caught and won't lift up.
11 If you try to lift the entire tray, it will not lift.
12 You can expect the person to eat with a spoon.
You can attach the dishes to the tray from the beginning, but it is difficult to wash them in an automatic dishwasher.