As a person ages, it's inevitable that they will experience more issues with their teeth as well. However, this doesn't mean an older person should ignore their dental health! If anything, it's more important than ever to protect your teeth, gums, and mouth as a safeguard for your overall body health.
Why? There are plenty of reasons.
1 - Preventing infections
An older person typically has a weaker immune system than a young person, and infections become more dangerous. This is a big problem when it comes to oral infections, since they can easily migrate to other places in the body - into the sinus cavity, down into the throat or lungs, or into the brain. Oral infections have even been linked to heart disease.
Preventing oral infections is a must for older people.
2 - The link between diabetes and oral health
Diabetes is extremely common among the elderly, with roughly 40% of diabetes cases appearing in people above retirement age. The issue is that oral disease and diabetes can reinforce each other. For example, if a person has too much sugar in their bloodstream, that causes their saliva to also have elevated sugar levels, which encourages tooth decay. There are also studies which have shown poor oral health making diabetes worse, although the exact link has not been found yet.
Either way, if you have diabetes, it's doubly important to maintain your oral health to help manage the disease.
3 - Dry mouth problems
Dry mouth is another common problem among older people, particularly those who take multiple medications as part of their routine. However, dry mouth is also bad for your teeth, as you need saliva in your mouth to help keep your teeth free of buildup.
If you have dry mouth issues, it's important to keep your mouth hydrated. Also, you should brush more frequently, to balance out the lack of saliva.
4 - Maintaining proper nutrition
If an older person's teeth become too bad, eating itself may become painful. Besides taking away one of life's great pleasures, this can make it even more difficult for an elderly adult to maintain proper nutrition. The worse their teeth, the harder it becomes to eat everything they need to stay healthy.
So, as you get older, it's extremely important to keep visiting the dentist regularly and taking care of small issues before they become big problems. If it's been more than a year since your last checkup, contact Plainsboro Dental Care - 609-799-4422for an appointment!