Study highlights practical challenges, ways patients protect independence
Written by Andrea Lobo | July 21, 2026
- Parkinson’s symptoms, fatigue and balance problems can make daily mouth care difficult.
- Some patients are reluctant to accept help because they view mouth care as private and closely tied to independence.
- Adaptive tools and individualized support from a multidisciplinary care team may help patients maintain their oral health.
People with Parkinson’s disease who participated in a U.K. study said maintaining their oral health helped preserve their independence and well-being, although they faced challenges performing mouth care at home.
Interviews with patients and care partners showed that Parkinson’s symptoms, including impaired hand control, fatigue, and balance issues, often made toothbrushing difficult. Despite these challenges, many patients were reluctant to accept assistance because they viewed toothbrushing as a private task, while care partners were uncertain about how and when to help.
“The findings suggest that oral health is not well integrated into the broader management of Parkinson’s” and highlight that a “proactive, multidisciplinary approach providing earlier information and tailored practical support will be beneficial in supporting [people with Parkinson’s] to maintain their oral health at home,” the researchers wrote.
Study explores mouth care at home
The study, “If you don’t sort out these problems, you end up building problems”: a qualitative study exploring mouthcare at home with people with Parkinson’s and their partners in care,” was published in Disability and Rehabilitation.
Parkinson’s disease is marked by the progressive death of nerve cells that produce dopamine, a signaling molecule involved in motor control. The resulting loss of dopamine causes many of the disease’s hallmark motor symptoms. Both motor and nonmotor symptoms may impair patients’ ability to perform mouth care. Previous studies have found that 29% to 47% of people with Parkinson’s report difficulty brushing their teeth.
To learn more about people’s experiences with mouth care at home, two researchers in the U.K. conducted a qualitative study based on interviews with 13 people with Parkinson’s, 61.5% of whom were men, and seven care partners.
Overall, researchers identified three themes: maintaining normality, familiar and unexpected problems, and negotiating help.
Participants viewed maintaining good oral health as an important part of preserving their identity, confidence, and social connections, as well as a sense of normality. Some saw healthy teeth as a visible sign of overall well-being and a way to influence how others perceived them.
“Trying to look healthy even if you’re not feeling healthy gives an impression to the outside world that you’re coping. If people see that your teeth are declining because you got Parkinson’s, that’s yet another thing that is a minus on your CV,” one participant said.
Many participants worried that the appearance of their teeth or bad breath could affect social interactions, and they saw maintaining a healthy mouth as one way to support positive connections with others. Another participant said that “smiling’s hard enough, so … on the occasions that you actually manage it, you want to flash a nice pair of gnashers, don’t you?”
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