BACKGROUND: Although oral care practices are an important part of nursing care in intensive care units, it is reported that oral care practices are disrupted and not performed at the desired level because of various factors. AIM: This study was conducted to examine the experiences of intensive care nurses regarding oral care. STUDY DESIGN: Phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. Seven nurses working in the intensive care units of a tertiary hospital were included in the study. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. The interviews were conducted face-to-face in a quiet room, and the interviews were audio-recorded with the participants' permission. After the voice recordings were transcribed, codes, categories and themes were created. The collected data were analysed using inductive content analysis. Results are presented with direct quotations. RESULTS: Three themes were uncovered: 'Barriers and challenges to oral care', 'consequences of ineffective oral care' and 'reasons for unmet/ineffective oral care'. The participants had problems in practice because of patient, nurse or institutional factors. The nurses also reported that some of the difficulties they encountered during oral care caused them fear and stress, which led to reluctance to perform oral care. The nurses argued that when they wanted to apply oral care, they could not do so because of patient, time and material-related problems. In addition, the difficulties experienced by nurses during oral care practices were related to inadequate oral care practices, especially during nursing education. CONCLUSIONS: The importance of oral care for intensive care patients and the importance of nurses' developed self-efficacy in providing this care were revealed. In line with the results obtained, the number of trainings on oral care practice activities should be increased and the content of the trainings should be expanded. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The difficulties experienced by nurses during oral care practices in intensive care may be caused by many factors such as patient, nurse or institutional factors. It has been stated that inadequate training causes great stress in those who perform this practice for the first time in a complex environment such as intensive care and that the negativities experienced cause reluctance to perform this practice. In order to effectively implement this practice that the patient needs, nurses must first have the necessary competence. For this, nurses need to be supported with in-service training after graduation.