Senior dental health

As we grow old our dental need get more specialized. Since our dental needs might be different from the ones we used to have it’s vital to regularly visit our dentist. Although many senior people wear dentures, teeth loss is not necessarily related to the aging process, but also with dental diseases that can be prevented.

Many old people might be taking medication that could interact negatively with dental anesthesia. For this reason it0s important to keep your dentist informed about any change or update on your clinical history to avoid any damaging interaction with your medication or any health change. Likewise, many medications may reduce saliva production, resulting in a dry mouth, which can produce cavities or the loss of dental pieces over time.

The right use of fake teeth

The fact of using fake teeth doesn’t mean to forget about your oral health. Actually, oral health is imperative if you use complete or partial dentures, since this will allow you feeling more comfort and fitting when using them.

Daily use of fake teeth

The following techniques explain better how to effectively remove plaque and food rests from dentures and mouth:

Rinsing: Rinse your mouth completely with water to eliminate loose pieces of food.

Brushing: Use a special toothbrush that fits that adjusts to your dentures’ shape for a slow brushing but no so roughly fro not damaging the plastic pieces or double the metallic bands. It’s desirable to use specific toothpastes to clean fake teeth instead of the regular ones because these could be to rough for the material. Never use bleaching products on them because they could change the color of the fake teeth or the metallic pieces.

Soaking: Unless your dentist recommends you the contrary, take off your fake teeth at night to give rest to your gums. You must keep your dentures humid if you are not wearing them in your mouth. On the contrary they might loose their shape. Soak them in a dentures cleaning solution during the recommended period if you soak them for more time the metallic bands might get stained). Never soak them in hot water because they could get deformed.

Reinsertion: Handle the fake teeth with over a folded towel or a bowl filled with water to the middle, because even a slight fall could break the base of the dentures or any of the dental pieces. Before reinserting the dentures, brush your gums and palate with a smooth toothbrush in order to eliminate plaque and stimulate circulation.