In a young age, it is often easy and uneventful to ignore and not take care of your health. Sometimes we forget our bi-annual health check-up and dental appointments. The body, particularly our mouth, is strong and resilient. It has a wonderful capacity to repair and heal. But as we cross forty, the body starts to demand a debt of overworking and not taking care of itself. We may develop backaches, neck pains, diabetes, high blood pressure.
And we may start to lose our teeth. Gum diseases may develop which weaken the bone around the roots of our teeth. Cavities may come when there were none.
What is more scary that sometimes, even pain is not present in such conditions. It is not necessary that a serious health hazard comes with pain. Even in absence of pain, a harmful disease or a condition could be existing in our mouths. Hence, it is absolutely essential to visit your dentist every six months to get your check-up done. And even more so for your parents and parent-in-laws.
Mouth is a mirror to the general body health. Tongue and its condition tells a dentist about a lot of diseases that you may not know of yet. Therefore, after crossing forty, you should start to take care of your parents. And when they are in their 60s, officially senior citizens, you need to be proactive about their health.
Dental and Oral Issues in Old Age
Tooth Decay and Cavities
Though cavities in the top portion of the tooth or the tooth root can affect person of any age, the aged are more prone to develop these. The main reason of it is the change in salivary flow and composition which alters its ability to neutralize the acidic food items.
Reduced salivary flow may also be caused by medications taken for other systemic ailments. This can increase the risk of tooth decay.
- Gum Diseases
Gum diseases are a silent threat. The calculus, a creamy-white, rough-textured, stone like deposit that slowly builds around the roots of your teeth acts as a colony of millions of harmful bacteria. It leads to a slow loss of your jaw bone, and if you lose your jaw bone, you lose your teeth too since it’s a support system of the teeth.
- Wounds that take a long time to heal
Most of us already know that if we have diabetes (sugar) and the blood levels of glucose are high, our wounds take a long time to heal. What we don’t know, rather our dentist knows, is that there are other conditions too which you and sometimes even your Physician might not be knowing about. Deficiency of Vitamin C is one such condition.
- Oral Infections
Elderly people are more prone to develop oral infections due to weakened immune system. This may jeopardize the ability of the body to maintain a healthy oral condition.
- Falling teeth
Chewing problems arise from teeth that have either fallen off a long time back or are falling of lately. Absence of the food grinding machinery may lead to malnutrition. Most of the time it occurs because of the habit of getting a tooth extracted and not getting it treated.
In the absence of teeth, the jaw bones start to disappear too and this process happens very fast. Therefore, it is recommended to get an implant-supported denture made to help with the chewing and the facial aesthetics.
Implant-supported denture not only take support from the jaw bone, they also stimulate it, increasing its life and improving its condition. And since these dentures take support from the jaw bone, they look and feel more natural to the patient, boost their self-confidence and improve their diet and health.
So, it is our responsibility to take care of the seniors at home. Don’t just ask them about their health, be proactive, fix their appointments and make sure that they attend them. Old people, after all, are like kids. And it is the responsibility of the young of the house to take care of them.
For more information related to the oral health of the elderly, please contact:
Ikigai Dentistry- 9319065937