Oral Motor and Cognitive Dual-Task Training (OMCDT) Program for Improving Oral and Cognitive Functions Among People With Oral Frailty

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to proposes a novel Oral Motor and Cognitive Dual-Task Training (OMCDT) program that combines both oral motor exercises and cognitive tasks to improve brain and oral function at the same time. It will also learn about the safety of drug ABC. The main questions it aims to answer is: Does the OMCDT training can improve the oral and cognitive functions? Participants will: Take the OMCDT training once a week for 32 weeks Visit the lab twice in the intervention period (16-week, 32-week) for checkups and tests

Interventions

• Oral Motor and Cognitive Dual-Task Training (OMCDT) · OTHER

  Oral Motor and Cognitive Dual-Task Training (OMCDT) program that combines both oral motor exercises and cognitive tasks to improve brain and oral function at the same time, where the training includes 4 types of combined oral and cognitive functions.

• Oral motor exercise · BEHAVIORAL

  The intervention will include four components: tongue-lip coordination exercises, tongue muscle strengthening exercises, lip and cheek muscle strengthening exercises, and mastication exercises. Each component will be repeated for seven rounds, with a 10-second rest interval between rounds. The intervention will be delivered once per week.

Published eligibility criteria

Verbatim from the registry. Only the site can decide how these apply to a specific patient.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Adults aged 50 years or above;
2. Cantonese speaking;
3. Having oral frailty, which is defined as having at least two of the following components by Oral Frailty Five-item Checklist (OF-5): (i) Natural teeth fewer than 20, (ii) Have any difficulties eating tough foods now compared with 6 months ago; (iii) Have choked on tea or soup recently; (iv) Often experience having a dry mouth, and (v) Oral diadochokinetic /ta/ sound \<6.0 times/second;
4. Having subjective cognitive decline (SCD), which refers to self-reported experience of worsening or more frequent confusion or memory loss in the past 12 month, or having been diagnosed with mild or moderate cognitive impairment; defined as a score of 0.5, 1, or 2 on Clinical Dementia Rating (C.D.R) scale;
5. Living independently or with partial assistance, defined as a score of Modified Barthel Index score greater than 60 out of 100;
6. Right-handed person to minimize variability in cortical activation patterns during fNIRS measurement;
7. Can understand the purpose and contents of this project and could give written consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Have attended the dental clinics for dental treatment or received orofacial myofunctional therapy (OMT), involving doing certain oral exercises with cheeks, tongue, or lips in previous 6 months;
2. Have received other cognitive training in previous 6 month;
3. Have impaired vision or hearing capacity that cannot understand the training instructions;
4. Have a diagnosis of a neurological or psychiatric condition that could affect cognitive function;
5. Have terminal illness, Temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ) disorders; Sjogren's (SHOW-grins) syndrome;
6. Have undergone glossectomy surgery;
7. have been taking drugs that affect cognitive function (e.g. Benzodiazepines, antidepressants, central nervous drugs).

Sites (1)

• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong