Prevention of Aspiration: Oral Care, Antibiotics, Others

Patients with aspiration pneumonia often develop this lung infection due to poor oral health or because the contents of the digestive tract or upper airway enter the lower airway traversing the larynx through different mechanisms. Prevention of this condition is directed at the mechanism by which it occurs. The elderly are the most likely to suffer from aspiration pneumonia, occasionally due to issues related to poor dental health, but more frequently due to abnormal swallowing, which may appear after a stroke, a functional impairment related to aging, or may be part of a specific disease such as Parkinson's disease or some other nervous system condition. People with dysphagia complicated by pneumonia have limited feeding and become debilitated, and aspiration pneumonia in these individuals has a high mortality rate at 90 days. Dietary modifications, assistance with feeding, use of postures that facilitate a normal deglutition, rehabilitation, and use of medications to improve swallowing defects are the tools of medicine to overcome the obstacles to swallowing normally and prevent the development of aspiration pneumonia and its consequences.