Oral Health in Hospitalized Adults: Clinical Outcomes and the Role of Dental Expertise.

Oral health may receive limited attention during hospitalization despite the high burden of oral disease, functional dependency, and reduced ability to maintain routine oral hygiene among medically complex patients. Multiple observational studies report associations between impaired oral health and broader clinical vulnerability or adverse outcomes, including functional impairment, infectious complications, prolonged hospitalization, and mortality. At the same time, hospital oral-health management ranges from patient self-care and routine nursing-led hygiene to structured oral-care programs and direct treatment by dental professionals, yet the relative contributions of these approaches remain unclear. This narrative review synthesizes current evidence on the relationship between oral-health status and clinical outcomes in hospitalized adults, evaluates the potential impact of oral-health interventions, and examines the role of dental professionals within interdisciplinary hospital care. PubMed and Scopus were searched in August 2026 for literature published from 2015 through 2026 using complementary strategies addressing oral-health status, respiratory and broader clinical outcomes, oral-care interventions, and dental or interdisciplinary involvement. Earlier foundational studies were retained when directly relevant to the review question. The strongest intervention evidence concerns respiratory outcomes, with systematic reviews and randomized trials suggesting benefits from structured oral care and mechanical plaque removal in selected hospitalized populations. Recent randomized evidence provides preliminary support for structured multicomponent oral care in reducing non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia in general hospital wards. However, benefits have not been demonstrated consistently across all clinical outcomes, and evidence regarding specific components, such as chlorhexidine, remains inconsistent. Professional dental involvement may provide additional value through assessment, diagnosis, treatment of active oral disease, staff education, protocol development, and interdisciplinary coordination; however, much of the supporting evidence is observational, and reported associations should not be interpreted as establishing causality. Available studies remain heterogeneous, and direct dental care should not be assumed to be necessary for every hospitalized patient. A differentiated, risk-based model may therefore be more appropriate than a uniform approach, with the intensity of dental involvement tailored to patient needs, clinical risk, functional dependency, and institutional capacity.