Managing Good Oral Health as a Senior
Taking good care of
your dental hygiene can help you achieve healthy teeth and gums. It doesn’t
really matter what your age is if you take proper care of your dental health
and goo for regular checkups. Brushing with fluoride-rich toothpaste twice a
day and flossing once can help you keep good dental hygiene whereas regular
visits to a dentist for a checkup will ensure that any problems if present can
be addressed.
Oral Health Issues That Seniors Need to know about
As a senior, you need
to realize that just brushing and flossing regularly doesn’t help you in
maintaining good oral health. There are issues that may arise and you might
start facing problems as well. If you are someone who has a habit of wearing
dentures or you are someone who is taking medication then there might be some
problems that you may encounter. Consulting a doctor or a dentist is advisable
if you are facing any such challenges.
●
Brushing with a fluoride-rich toothpaste helps in keeping good
hygiene and flossing and regular check-ups ensure no cavity or decay in the
roots of the teeth. It is considered to be the most common dental problem in
adults.
● The gums have a tendency of receding over a period of time which
may eventually lead to sensitivity problems to arise. Any change in the temperature
of the products you are intaking can cause pain as the tooth area gets exposed
as the enamel coating disappears. There have been cases where people were even
sensitive towards only the temperature of food products. But there are
instances where the sensitivity to inhaling air through the mouth was seen as a
problem The sensitivity towards sweet drinks and the sour food products can
also be visible. It is advised to use an anti-sensitivity toothpaste.
● Seniors may experience this a lot but the dry mouth has been
constantly been a common condition. Dry mouth is generally a result of some
medication or treatment or sometimes happens because of some disorder. If your
mouth remains dry for a longer period chances are it may damage your teeth.
Consulting a dentist is always a good idea and can help you achieve appropriate
treatments and medications so as to help you prevent any trouble you might have
been facing due to a dry mouth.
●
Oral health gets adversely affected by diseases like diabetes,
heart disease, and cancer as well. A dentist knows the proper solution to this
and it is highly recommended for you to visit one if you have any of the
aforementioned.
● One thing about dentures is that they are very difficult to take
care of them. Consulting a dentist and following the instructions given is
highly advisable and recommended. The long-term dentures need a regular
checkup.
●
For the people in their forties, it is more common to have gum
diseases but it can happen to anyone of any age group though. It is a
potentially critical condition and there are certain factors which enhance the severity of it:
❖
Unhealthy Diet
❖
Poor Dental Hygiene
❖
Diseases
❖
Stress and Smoking
❖
Medications and Treatments
●
As the gum diseases are said to be reversible in their early
stages, it is very crucial for you to get it checked and confirmed. Though
prevention of the same can be practiced by keeping up good oral hygiene it is
also advised to go for dental checkups regularly so as to not only ensure the
detection of the problem but also its treatment.
●
When replacing the teeth which go missing or have damaged over
time, crowns and bridges are used in the process of providing strength. Crown
is typically available for capping up the area which is heavily damaged. It not
only provides strength to the damaged tooth it also helps in improvising the
impact of your appearance. When you have a few teeth missing bridges are used.
These bridges can be found around the missing teeth and it helps in cementing
the natural teeth or fill up the empty space by implants.