News Local/State

Nursing Home Patients Lack Dental Care

 
Hygienist, Linda Rowe, brushes a patient's teeth.

Hygienist, Linda Rowe, brushes a patient's teeth. Michelle O'Neill / WVIK News

A dental hygienist in the Quad Cities is helping people in nursing homes take care of their teeth.

Linda Rowe works for a private company called, Hylife. Its founder, Angie Stone, wrote Dying from Dirty Teeth: Why the Lack of Proper Oral Care Is Killing Nursing Home Residents and How to Prevent It.

In this report from public radio station WVIK in the Quad Cities, Michelle O'Neill talks about the problem and why it’s getting worse, with Rowe; Stacy Kosier, coordinator of the Dental Hygiene program at Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg; and Dr. Howard J. Cowen of the University of Iowa College of Dentistry,.