It’s rarely monitored and rarely reported. And to date, few studies have looked at how it can be prevented.<\/p>\n
But our new trial<\/a>, published today in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, shows a surprisingly simple action can make a major difference: brushing patients’ teeth.<\/p>\n We found this can reduce the chance of getting this type of pneumonia, called non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia, by 60%.<\/p>\n What is this type of pneumonia?<\/p>\n Non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia occurs in patients who aren’t on a ventilator, usually outside of intensive care settings.<\/p>\n Patients are infected when bacteria from the mouth or throat are breathed into the lungs.<\/p>\n Patients who develop this type of pneumonia stay in hospital between ten and 48 days longer<\/a>, and are around eight times more likely to die<\/a> during their admission.<\/p>\n A simple intervention made a big difference<\/p>\n We studied<\/a> 8,870 patients across three Australian hospitals to see whether improving oral care \u2013 which included toothbrushing \u2013 could reduce this type of pneumonia.<\/p>\n Usually, when patients go to hospital, they don’t pack a toothbrush \u2013 especially in emergencies.<\/p>\n In busy hospital wards, oral care isn’t always given the attention it needs<\/a>, nor are oral care products always readily available.<\/p>\n Patients don’t always get reminders to brush their teeth<\/a>, and many patients need help with their oral care.<\/p>\n The intervention in our study was deliberately simple<\/a>. We:<\/p>\n gave patients in hospital a toothbrush and toothpaste in a bag when they were admitted We introduced the intervention into one ward at a time over 12 months at each hospital.<\/p>\n This gradual roll-out is known as a stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial. It can test new health interventions when it’s too difficult to randomise individuals without revealing who is receiving the intervention and who isn’t.<\/p>\n We found that this relatively simple intervention increased the proportion of people who cleaned their teeth from 16% to 62%.<\/p>\n This increasing oral care led to a 60% reduction in the risk of acquiring pneumonia, from the equivalent of eight infections per month on a typical ward of 30 patients, to less than four infections per month.<\/p>\n This is the largest trial of its kind and the first completed across multiple hospitals.<\/p>\n The mouth is home to billions of bacteria. Oral hygiene often deteriorates when people are unwell, sedated, immobile, or taking certain medications.<\/p>\n When this happens, bacteria build up on the teeth, gums, and tongue. If these bacteria are breathed in \u2013 even in tiny amounts \u2013 they can cause pneumonia.<\/p>\n Daily tooth-brushing reduces this <\/a>bacterial build-up. It’s a simple mechanical action with a powerful protective effect.<\/p>\n Yet in busy hospitals, oral care is often overlooked.<\/p>\n Patients may not know just how important oral care is. Staff are often busy with competing priorities, and oral care can be de-prioritised. There is also a general lack of understanding about the importance of oral care<\/a>.<\/p>\n Patients can help protect themselves<\/p>\n One of the most important messages from our research is patients aren’t powerless. While health-care staff such as nurses play a crucial role, patients who are able to brush their own teeth can meaningfully reduce their own risk.<\/p>\n If you or a loved one is admitted to hospital, you can:<\/p>\n bring your own toothbrush and toothpaste These small actions can reduce the risk of a serious, life-threatening infection.<\/p>\n What happens next?<\/p>\n Pneumonia is costly \u2013 in lives, hospital days and the financial cost of care. But because non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia isn’t routinely reported, it’s often invisible.<\/p>\n Our research challenges the assumption that hospital-acquired pneumonia is an unavoidable complication when you go to hospital.<\/p>\n It also highlights the need for hospitals to monitor non-ventilator hospital-acquired infections, in the same way they monitor falls, pressure injuries and other preventable harms.<\/p>\n Related: The State of Your Teeth Could Predict an Early Death, Study Shows<\/a><\/p>\n Finally, our study strengthens the case for including oral care in national infection-prevention guidelines and nursing practice.<\/p>\n Oral care isn’t glamorous, expensive or technologically advanced \u2013 but it works. Sometimes, the simplest interventions are the most powerful. Brett Mitchell<\/a>, Professor of Nursing and Health Services Research, University of Newcastle<\/a>; Allen Cheng<\/a>, Professor of Infectious Diseases, Monash University<\/a>; Nicole White<\/a>, Associate Professor of Statistics, Queensland University of Technology<\/a>; Peta Ellen Tehan<\/a>, Senior Lecturer, Monash University<\/a>, and Philip Russo<\/a>, Professor, Director of Research, Nursing and Midwifery, Monash University<\/a><\/p>\n This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You go to hospital for treatment and to get better. But sometimes, you get something much less welcome:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-734596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"YouTube](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781371209_865_0.jpg\")
frameborder=”0\u2033 allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen><\/p>\n![\"Subscribe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/FOMO-1200x628-_Dont-miss-the-next-breakthrough_-cosmic-colourful-642x336.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\neducated patients and hospital staff about the importance of tooth-brushing. The toothbrush also had a written prompt on it \u2013 “Brush away pneumonia”
\nassisted patients who needed help with toothbrushing
\naudited how oral care was being delivered and gave feedback to hospital wards.<\/p>\n![\"orange](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Science-Photo-Library-coloured-SEM-of-oral-bacteria-642x361.jpg\")
A colored scanning electron micrograph showing bacteria attached to a cheek cell. (Science Photo Library\/Canva)Why does brushing teeth help?<\/p>\n
\nbrush your teeth twice a day if you’re able
\nask staff for help if you can’t
\nremind staff if oral care has been missed.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781371212_652_count.gif\")
\n<\/p>\n