2-3-3-Oral Skin and Gums

Oral skin should have a pink, moist, smooth, and uniform appearance. Maintain oral skin by cleaning every day to avoid build up of food and debris and possible aspiration. Assisting persons to clean their mouth or dentures once a day can help them keep cleaner dentures and healthier mouths.

Skin and tissues touching the dentures should also be cleaned when dentures are removed.

• Always use gloves
• Wrap a piece of wet gauze around your finger
• Thoroughly wipe out any plaque build up or food debris from the gums
• Wrap a piece of gauze around a tongue depressor instead of using your finger
• Replace the gauze frequently

Tongue cleaning should be done once per day to reduce bad breath.  Keep in mind, some individuals may not tolerate tongue cleaning due to a strong gag reflex.