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Dental Health and Caring for Seniors

Seniors are the fastest-growing age group in the U.S., in part because medical advances and preventive care are extending life and the quality of it. As the baby boomer generation ages, the senior population is swelling, along with their interest in maintaining healthy bodies and lifestyles. Good dental health is important to overall health and seniors must stay on top of their dental care. It is now possible to keep natural teeth and good dental hygiene plays a vital role.

Dental Decay and Gum Disease

Talk to your dentist about the proper care of your teeth and dental health. Brushing twice a day and flossing regularly are the most important steps you can take to keep your teeth and gums healthy. If age is causing your gums to recede, clean your teeth thoroughly, but be careful not to irritate or tear the gums. A receding gum line may also expose sensitive portions of teeth; careful brushing is important, as are toothpastes that offer sensitivity protection. If you have difficulty using a toothbrush or floss because arthritis or a stroke has impaired your agility, ask your dentist to recommend commercial products that will make the tasks easier. Bleeding or sensitive gums, constant bad breath, receding gums, and loose teeth are all symptoms of gum disease, which can hasten tooth loss. If you spot these symptoms, talk with your dentist about them before they cause pain and deterioration.

Watch Your Mouth!

After a lifetime of chewing and biting, many seniors have dentures, bridges, crowns, and, of course, their fair share of fillings. Over time, even the best dental hardware can wear out. If you feel changes in your mouth, particularly when you are eating, brushing, or flossing, bring them to your dentist's attention. You may take medications or have a medical condition that results in dry mouth. Saliva production is important to good dental health: it keeps the mouth moist, washes away food particles, and protects against decay from plaque. Enlist the help of your dentist, and ask about artificial saliva products.

Maintaining Your Investment In Dentistry

Don't stop caring for your teeth and mouth at this stage of the game! Keeping your teeth healthy means greater comfort and enjoyment as you eat, laugh, and speak. Good preventive care will give you something to really smile about and help to maintain your dental health!

+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.

What To Expect From Immediate Dentures

Immediate dentures are placed in the mouth directly after the remaining teeth are extracted. This approach is utilized when a person does not want to be without any teeth for several months while extraction tooth sockets heal and a denture is fabricated.

Immediate Dentures Involve a Two-Step Denture Process

Optimally, immediate dentures are the first denture of a two-denture process and should be considered as a temporary interim prosthesis until a second refined and esthetically enhanced denture may be constructed after healing.

First Stage

• Usually, most or all of the back teeth are removed and extraction sites are allowed to heal for a minimum of six weeks or more, depending upon an individual's healing rate.
• After adequate healing, the immediate dentures unit is fabricated.
• The remaining teeth are extracted and the immediate dentures are placed in the mouth. Wearing immediate dentures right away over extractions normally is no more uncomfortable than the extractions alone.
• Discomfort is managed with proper anesthesia and pain medication. Immediate dentures act like a Band Aid bandage, holding tissues together and protecting them during healing.
• Generally, the dentist does not remove immediate dentures until the day after surgery. Surgery is checked and denture adjustments are made as necessary.
• Immediate dentures will gradually become loose because of bone shrinkage as the jaw continues to heal. Provisional liners are placed in the loosening denture to help hold it in place during healing.
• Adhesives also maintain the denture in place as it becomes looser. If immediate dentures become too loose during this healing period of several months, it may be necessary to reline multiple times.

Second Stage

• After adequate healing has occurred, a second refined denture is fabricated. This denture allows the dentist to artistically position teeth in an optimal and enhanced esthetic relationship, which was not possible with immediate dentures. It also is now possible to establish better functional relationships of the jaws.
• Approximately six months after the second denture is delivered, it will most likely need to be relined to compensate for continuing jaw shrinkage. After this reline, a patient usually needs annual relines to accommodate a continually shrinking jaw.
• The frequency of relines is an individual matter unique to each patient and is best determined by a licensed dentist after a thorough periodic examination that should occur at six-month intervals.

Modified Approaches to Immediate Dentures

• It is possible to extract all the back and front teeth at one time and insert immediate dentures. However, such an approach is problematic and generally is discouraged unless the patient has no other alternatives.
• All teeth may be extracted with no interim denture while the jaws heal and a denture is fabricated. This is generally a more economical approach, but an individual would be without teeth for several months.

Advantages of Immediate Dentures

• A person is not without teeth for any extended period of time.
• Immediate dentures act as a bandage while bony tooth sockets are healing after tooth extractions.

Disadvantages of Immediate Dentures

• A second refined and esthetically enhanced denture is necessary soon after the immediate dentures.
• While the cost of immediate dentures is generally about the same as a conventional denture, the second denture needs to be fabricated soon after the immediate denture. Therefore, a person would be experiencing the additional cost of the second denture sooner.

by Joseph J. Massad, D.D.S.

+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.