Some facts and figures about Dysphagia....

Dysphagia (the medical term for difficulties swallowing), affects a wide range of people, approximately:

• 90% of people with motor neurone disease (MND)
• 68% of people with dementia 
• 50% of people with head and neck cancer
• 40% of stroke survivors  (but this is as high as 78% initially)
• 30% of people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) 

It is also possible to have dysphagia short term, caused by an infection (e.g. a UTI) or by the side effects of some drugs.

[figures taken from Health Care Services]

Dysphagia can be caused by difficulties at any of the 4 stages of a normal swallow, which are:

1. Oral Preparatory stage

2. Oral stage

3. Pharyngeal stage

4. Oesophageal stage

On average you swallow 580 times a day in order to eat, drink and manage saliva, and each swallow involves 25 different muscles, and 5 nerves. 

The swallowing process actually starts before the food or drink enters your mouth, because the sight and smell of food helps to trigger saliva, which aids the oral stage of the swallow, and ends with food and fluids arriving in the stomach.  
If dysphagia is not managed correctly, it can lead to choking, aspiration, pneumonia, malnutrition, dehydration and possibly even death.