Oral hygiene in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a scoping review protocol.

SCOPING REVIEW OBJECTIVE: It is hypothesized that systematic oral hygiene may reduce airway infections in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Before considering doing a systematic review, a scoping review is necessary to explore and map literature on the subject and identify which interventions have been carried out, if there is relevant literature available for a systematic review, or if further research should be initiated.The objective of this scoping review is to comprehensively identify and describe qualitative or quantitative literature reporting of non-invasive interventions that have been carried out to improve oral hygiene and relieve and/or reduce respiratory tract infections, exacerbation and/or hospital readmission in patients with diagnosed with COPD. A further objective is to undertake a comprehensive search to identify qualitative literature reporting on the experiences of oral hygiene in people diagnosed with COPD and/or their relatives and/or healthcare providers (HCPs).Specifically, the scoping review questions are as follows.