The effect of oral care on bacterialcolonization in oral mucosa given by two different methods to patients supported by mechanical ventilators

This study was carried out experimentally in order to examine the effect of oral care given by two different methods in mechanical ventilator support patients. The research was carried out in the Anesthesia-Reanimation Intensive Care Unit and General Intensive Care Unit between 26.03.2017-20.02.2018 at Bülent Ecevit University Research and Application Center. The sample of the study consisted of 30 patients who had started to receive mechanical ventilator support but had not yet passed through 24 hours. In the collection of data; Patient Information Form, Patient Follow-up Form, Oral Evaluation Assessment Form, Oral Assessment Scaleand Microbiological Evaluation Form were used. Patients were divided into 2 groups, and patients in the experimental group has received physiological saline solution and toothbrush and in the control group has received oral care 4 times a day for 4 days with an abeslang which wrapped in sodium bicarbonat esponge. Forthe microbiological examination, the results of oral swaps taken on the 1st and 4th days were evaluated. In order to carry out the study, ethical consent from Kocaeli University Non-invasive Clinical Research Ethics Committee, written permission from the institution and informed consent were obtained from the relatives of the patient. In the evaluation of data had been used Pearson's chi-square test, t test, Mann Whitney test and Fisher Exact test; McNemar test. The results wereevaluated at 95% confidence interval and p <0.05 significance level. The power of sample size was calculated as 70%. After four days of application, there was a decrease in dental plaque in the experimental group. There was nostatistically significant difference between the groups in the comparison of the culture results obtained on the 1st and 4th day of the bacteria in the oral mucosa as a result of microbiological examination; toothbrushes and abeslang methods used in oral care were found to be effective and were not been found to have advantage so verea chother. Keywords: Oral care, Mechanical ventilator, Oral mucosa, Toothbrush, Intensive care