Dental Health for Seniors

What do I Need to Know to Maintain Good Oral Health in My Senior Years?
With proper care and a good general health, your teeth can last a lifetime.  Of course, regular dental check ups will help you to spot issues quickly so that they can be dealt with before they become major problems.

Individuals of any age can keep teeth and gums in top condition, by twice a day brushing.  Studies indicate that using an electric toothbrush, floss, and mouthwash can all add to your success in avoiding cavities and gum disease.

Are There Dental and other Oral Health Issues I Should Know About as a Senior?
Wearing dentures, taking medications and general health conditions are some of the issues many seniors face. Luckily, your dentist and physician can help you meet most of these challenges quite successfully.

• Cavities and/or decay can strike the root surfaces of the teeth of older adults more frequently.
• You are likely to find yourself becoming more senstive to hot or cold foods or drinks, cold air, or to some sweet or sour foods or beverages.  This is due in part to your gums receding over time, thereby exposing areas of the tooth that are not protected by enamel.  You might want to  try an anti-sensitivity toothpaste under these circumstances.  Sensitivity can also be caused by cavities, broken teeth or cracked crowns.
• Dry mouth, also called xerostomia, is a condition that usually results from decreased production of saliva. At times, xerostomia can make it difficult to speak and may lead to malnutrition. Extreme dry mouth and salivary gland dysfunction can produce significant and permanent mouth and throat disorders and can impair a person's quality of life.
  Disorders of saliva production affect elderly people and those who are taking prescription and nonprescription medications most frequently.
• Dry mouth can damage your teeth if not treated.  To treat dry mouth, begin a low-sugar diet and use fluoride treatments plus antimicrobial rinses.  Any mouthwash used should not contain alcohol, such as Biotene.  They will cause further mouth dryness. Drink more water throughout the day, especially while eating. Chewing gum can help stimulate salivary flow, but avoid those that have sugar in them. Other remedies including over the counter products may be recommended by your dentist, along with precautions that may apply specifically to your case.
  
• Heart disease, diabetes or cancer can affect your oral health. Your doctor or dentist can help you to take necessary steps to limit damage.
  
• Gum disease can result in costly and painful treatments.   Factors that potentially increase the severity of gum disease:

• Bad diet
• Stress and smoking
• As noted above, diabetes, heart disease and cancer may increase risk.
• Poor oral hygiene (not brushing often enough or correctly. Not flossing)
• Certain medications may increase risks of contracting gum disease
• Dentures require special care. Your dentist's instructions should be followed carefully.  Don't hesitate to go see your dentist if you have pain, discomfort, or slippage.

Gum disease is reversible if diagnosed in the early stages.  Regular dental checkups often lead to detection and treatment of gum disease. You can prevent gum disease by practicing proper oral hygiene, and getting regular check ups.

• You may need a crown or a bridge.  Crowns cover or a damaged tooth to make it stronger, improve its appearance, and/or to help with alignment. Bridges replace one or more missing teeth by spanning the space where the teeth used to be.  The bridge is anchored to the good teeth on either side of the space.  Learn how to clean under the bridge as food can get trapped between the false tooth in the bridge and the gum.
• Darkened teeth are caused, at least partially, by changes in dentin -- the bone-like tissue that underlies the tooth enamel.  But also adding to darkening can be a lifetime of consuming stain-causing foods and beverages.
• Diminished sense of taste may be the result of diseases or medications.  Even dentures can contribute to loss of taste.
• Exposure of the tooth root to decay-causing acids can result in root decay.  This is one potential result from gum disease or even the natural receding of the gums.
•  Ill-fitting dentures, poor dental hygiene, or a buildup of the fungus Candida albicans can cause an inflammation of the tissue underlying a denture.
• Diseases or drugs that affect the immune system can trigger thrush, which is the overgrowth of the fungus Candida albicans in the mouth.

Because of the importance and growing use of implants, we will devote a separate post to the subject.  Look for that post within a few days.  If reading this post after November 29, the implant post should be available to read.

Alzheimer's Cure Just Got Closer!! Breakthrough Study

It would appear that this breakthrough will have more application to those of you who are now caretakers rather than those in your care.  However, any good news regarding the various types of debilitating brain diseases is a time for celebration.  

Here is an article from the BBC website.

Alzheimer's breakthrough hailed as 'turning point'

Professor Giovanna Mallucci says the hope is to arrest the process of brain cell death

Related Stories

• Stopping brain death breakthrough
• Alzheimer's brain scan advances
• Alzheimer's 'genetic signs' found

The discovery of the first chemical to prevent the death of brain tissue in a neurodegenerative disease has been hailed as the "turning point" in the fight against Alzheimer's disease.

More work is needed to develop a drug that could be taken by patients.

But scientists say a resulting medicine could treat Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's and other diseases.

In tests on mice, the Medical Research Council showed all brain cell death from prion disease could be prevented.

Prof Roger Morris, from King's College London, said: "This finding, I suspect, will be judged by history as a turning point in the search for medicines to control and prevent Alzheimer's disease."
He told the BBC a cure for Alzheimer's was not imminent but: "I'm very excited, it's the first proof in any living animal that you can delay neurodegeneration.

"The world won't change tomorrow, but this is a landmark study."

Please visit http://BrightStarCare.com/jupiter for more information on Alzheimer's and on services that we can provide regarding companion care or skilled nursing care for your loved one.

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New Early Diagnosis Test for Alzheimer's Include Peanut Butter and a Ruler

 

University of Florida Says More Testing Needed, but Simple, Inexpensive Test Works

In a recent post, we tried to sort out some of the myths surrounding Alzheimer's, especially as those misunderstandings apply to other forms of dementia or, in some cases, just normal old absent mindedness.

One thing that isn't a myth:  Doctors have very few reliable ways to determine who has Alzheimer's early in the progression of the disease.  It is this very inability that leads to care givers and loved one's trying to second guess which lapses are normal and which are evidence of the early stages of the dreaded Alzheimer's diseases.

Now enter a small study conducted by the UofF as reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A plop of peanut butter on the end of a ruler could be the key to an early Alzheimer's diagnosis, claims new research coming out of the University of Florida. 

Graduate student Jennifer Stamps reported her group's findings from a small study in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences.

The university reported that she came up with the idea of using peanut butter to test the smell sensitivity after noticing that patients were not tested for sense of smell.  The ability to smell is associated with the first cranial nerve, often one of the first nerves affected in cognitive decline. 

But why peanut butter?  Stamps said it's a "pure odorant" that is only detected by the olfactory nerve, and peanut butter is easy to get.
Click here to read the complete report.  

While the various reporting on this test concludes that more testing is needed to confirm this small effort, the results are very promising.  Most articles also advise against using this test as a home diagnosis tool, no matter how tempting. 

9 Secrets to Increase Joy in the Senior Years

 

How Do Senior's Finish Strong? Joyous Living!

In this time of endless self help books and articles that purport to tell us how to be happy, here are nine lifestyle approaches that are likely to bring us joy. 

1. Let it go - over the last 60 years or so, almost everyone has accumulated a list of mistakes, woes, hurts, enemies, losses, and other negative things.  None of it matters anymore.  If there are still unsettled issues, settle them.  Your life will double in joy if you can leave all that stuff behind.
2. Forgive - 75% of all emotional illness is tied to a failure to forgive others.  Your failure to forgive someone is unlikely to be impacting their life at all.  But it might be making you sick.  You don't need to contact them to forgive them.  Just decide you are no longer going to carry that brick around.
3. Pay it forward - Did you see the movie.  If not, rent it!  You have had many, many good things in your life as a result of others doing things for you out of the kindness of their heart.  Now you can use the gifts, talents, wealth, or other benefits that you have derived to help others.  Do it and find joy.
4. Stay connected - We are social beings, but it is easy to shut all that down.  Relationships take time, emotional work, can result in hurts, and will all eventually end.  Accept those facts and keep in touch with relatives and make new friends. Almost everyone you meet could use another friend. Spread joy.
5. Keep up - The world is changing faster and faster, and it may seem impossible to stay on top of all the new technology, fads, politics, and even your favorite personal pastimes.  Don't let that negative talk in your head stop you.  There is great joy in learning and achieving results.  Take a risk.
6. Keep laughing - You will live longer, happier, more joyfully if you take time to sing, dance, and laugh.  What can you do today to create a few full out belly laughs.  At the very least you can learn the technology to watch some cat videos on your smart phone or iPad. Then help someone else laugh.
7. Practice optimism - Every study shows it.  Optimistic people are more joyful, healthier, and live longer.  Worry never changed a thing.  Pessimistic expectations are wrong more often than optimistic thinking. Changing from negative thinking may be a major effort.  The joy will be worth it.
8. Be thankful - Make lists of things to be thankful for.  Therapists get paid $100's per hour to give that advice.  I just gave it to you for free.  Be thankful for that!  Next, write down the things about your spouse, children, grandchildren, best friend, and others that you are thankful for.  WOW!
9. Ask for help - You might think you are being a burdon to others when you ask for help.  And some folks will give off that vibe.  The truth is that most of us are happy to be asked and to be of help.  Instead of wasting time with senseless unmet needs, ask someone for help and share some joy.