Palo Alto, CA Implant Dentistry Near You

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 Do With The Broken Denture - Denture Repair

Even though dentures are fabricated from extremely durable materials, they will break, wear out, a tooth will come out, or their fit will change. Then its time for denture repair.

Accidents happen, dogs still like to chew on plates of the dental kind, and trash compacters have never taken kindly to dentures. In fact, it is frequently not a matter of "if," but rather a matter of "when" a denture will become broken, lost, or damaged beyond repair.

One can be assured that a problem will happen when least expected, and immediate, usually important, plans definitely will be altered unless a person is prepared.

Damaged Denture - How to Expect the Unexpected and Be Prepared

A short-term use duplicate denture will bridge the gap while a regular denture is being repaired, renovated, or replaced. Sometimes this type of denture is referred to as an "embarrassment denture" because it helps a person avoid the embarrassment of being without teeth in an emergency or during planned denture maintenance.

While this type of denture may be made at any time from an existing functional denture, it generally is fabricated immediately after a new denture is made. The embarrassment denture is neither as accurate nor as esthetic and durable as the original, but it is adequate and only meant for short-term use. The cost is generally considerably less than the original denture.

Such an interim prosthesis may be relined annually and adjusted in advance to fit the current changing shape of an individual's jaws, and therefore be ready to use at a moment's notice.

However, some individuals choose to have their embarrassment denture relined and adjusted only when they need the short-term denture. Following this latter course means that they will have to wait to wear their interim denture until an appointment can be scheduled with a dentist to complete the reline and any adjustments. But a reline for an embarrassment denture can be done in the dentist's office during a single appointment so a patient may leave with it refitted in the mouth.

In either case, a person would not be without a prosthesis while their regular denture is being worked on.

The Embarrassment Denture Facilitates Planned Periodic Maintenance

All dentures need to be periodically relined to accommodate the constant change in shape of a person's jaws. There are also times when the plastic body of a denture needs to be changed due to deterioration, or the entire denture replaced because of wear or poor fit from changing mouth conditions that can no longer be remedied by relining.

While relines can be completed in one appointment office visit, more durable relines may require that a dentist keep a denture for several days. Replacing the plastic body of a denture (called a rebase) takes several days and making a replacement denture takes several weeks.

It becomes easy to see how an embarrassment denture would solve being without one's regular denture for a period of time, even for planned maintenance, while getting on with one's life.

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.