19.12.2019
Senior dental care. What can I do?
As we age, changes in our oral cavity appear quite naturally. Our teeth may darken, a certain dryness may appear in our mouth. Our sense of taste may even grow weaker.
The teeth itself may face problems of their own. Root decay and gum diseases may appear and we may lose some of our teeth. Obviously, these are problems we could do without, yet at the same time they really are natural.
The question is what you yourself can do about them.
Age itself doesn’t really determine the state of our teeth, however some age-related illnesses may make dental care more complicated. Arthritis, for example, certainly doesn’t make it a whole lot easier and various pills may also have a detrimental effect. The thing is, you do quite need them from a certain age.
Fortunately, there are a few simple pieces of advice, that allow you to improve your dental health by yourself. Visiting our dental facility only ever comes as a last resort.
Here are four basic rules:
- Brush your teeth at least twice a day with a fluoride-containing toothpaste.
- Floss at least once a day.
- Rinse with an antiseptic mouthwash once or twice a day.
- Visit your dentist on a regular basis for cleaning and an oral exam. With age, regular visits are all the more important.
Proper dental care is not just a matter of aesthetics, though. Research has shown that there is a direct link between gum diseases and heart diseases. This means taking care of your teeth also decreases the risk of a heart attack.
By breathing in bacterial droplets from the mouth to the lungs, seniors are also more susceptible to pneumonia. And you should also take care of your teeth if you suffer from diabetes: high blood sugar increases the likelihood of periodontitis, which in turn hinders the body’s ability to use insulin.
All of this means that oral cavity diseases can lead to complications you could certainly do without. And you can avoid them even without visiting our dental clinic, just by following the four basic rules.
