The elderly community is rapidly increasing. This is one of the main causes of the increase in health problems and the inability of these patients to comply with medical standards. Oral hygiene, among others, is one of the most neglected. As we age, dental hygiene becomes increasingly important to maintain a healthy lifestyle because the elderly are more susceptible to infections and diseases of the oral cavity which can easily spread to the entire body. Oral health is much worse for older adults who are in a nursing home than for those who are not. Older adults in nursing homes are generally less cognitive, meaning they must rely on nurses for nearly all aspects of their care. The oral health of residents goes unseen. If nurses give dentistry a low priority, this way of thinking can be passed on to patients...' -Anthony Kearns” (Duffin 1). Because residents rely on nurses, oral hygiene is often not taken as seriously as it should. Dental hygiene for residents is often seen as a low priority for nurses, as they themselves do not prioritize their own oral health. Nursing home nurses, however, are much better at providing oral health care advice than regular hospital nurses. Only 28% of nursing home dentists are afraid of the dentist, while 40% of hospital nurses are afraid of the dentist. Among the nurses examined in this study, 54% of nursing home nurses regularly provided oral advice to their residents, compared to only 43% of hospital nurses (2). Even nursing home nurses have immense knowledge about false teeth compared to hospital nurses, some of whom don't even know how to take them out. One of the many diseases caused by insufficient dental hygiene is periodontitis. Periodontitis is an inflammation of the gums. Whether or not you get periodontitis is usually genetically determined, but poor oral health also plays a huge factor. Periodontitis is the leading cause of tooth loss in the United States and affects over fifty percent of the entire US population (Kishore 2). When a person is diagnosed with periodontitis the risk of many other diseases and problems such as heart attacks, strokes, lung infections, low birth weight babies for pregnant women, pancreatic cancer and many other cancers and problems increases (Caruso 79). Severe periodontal disease can lead to coronary heart disease and even oral cancer. Cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx represent 5% of all cancers, affecting thirty thousand people in the United States every year and the risk increases with age. After one is diagnosed with oral cancer, only fifty percent of all oral cancer patients will still be alive after five years (Kishore 2). Oral cancer treatments can cause many other problems. Some cancer treatments cause patients to have xerostomia, swelling of the mouth, disfigurement, changes in speech and/or chewing, loss of appetite, and make them more susceptible to infections (Kishore 2). Poor oral health often leads to bad breath, but on some occasions bad breath can indicate gum