Care for oral cavity in solid post-pension age has its own characteristics. Natural aging processes in body make teeth more susceptible to infection and decay. Gums and muscles of oral cavity weaken, smaller amount of saliva is secreted, as result, bacteria begin develop more actively in mouth. In addition, risk of dental diseases increases due to use of certain medications.
For many people, retirement is marked by dismissive attitude towards their own teeth. You don`t need to appear every day “in public”, so there is nothing to spend on daily hygiene. This position is fundamentally wrong. It is necessary, on contrary, at this age to devote as much time as possible to careful care of living teeth in order to preserve their health for many years, and not to forget about attentive attitude to dentures.
Rules of oral care in old age
We can present them as following:
- Be sure to brush your teeth twice a day, even if you aren`t going to leave your home.
- Every time after eating, remove leftovers. For hard to reach places, use dental floss.
- Destruction of root of tooth in old age is much more common. As prevention, you can use fluoride toothpastes.
- Don`t forget to change your toothbrush every 3 months. If it is difficult for you to perform long intensive movements with an ordinary brush, it is better to purchase electrical analogue.
- Be sure to monitor condition of your oral cavity at dentist. This should be done every year, and not just as consultation. Try not to delay solution of newly formed problems, and take timely measures to preserve health of oral cavity, which specialist will tell you about after examination.
- Watch your diet. With age, need for vitamins and minerals for body increases significantly. So, for example, calcium, important for teeth after 40 years, not only accumulates poorly in bone tissue, but is even lost in small amount, significantly increasing its fragility. Vitamins D, A, C and many others are also of great importance for oral cavity. Variety of healthy foods can provide necessary elements into body, and in some cases, special vitamin complexes will help.
- In body, everything is interconnected, so it isn`t surprising that diseases of other systems and internal organs have negative effect on condition of oral cavity. Such illnesses include diabetes, cardiovascular diseases or malignant tumors. It is imperative to talk about such nuances to your dentist so that he, in turn, can correctly correct treatment of problems of oral cavity.
- If you wear removable dentures, it`s important to provide them with right care. Don`t neglect rules of hygiene – dentures need daily cleaning. In addition, be sure to rinse prosthesis with warm water after each meal. If wearing dentures makes you uncomfortable, don`t over-tighten with specialist appointment. You may need some correction or complete replacement of structure. To learn more about removable dentures.
- Gum health will help support daily rinsing with glass of saline (1 teaspoon of salt is used for 1 cup of warm water). In addition, it is very useful to perform manual massage gums. And more often let them rest from prosthesis for short time.
- Such symptom as sensitivity of gums to cold and hot food can serve as signal of beginning disease, crack in tooth, carious damage. Don`t ignore it and self-medicate. It is better to immediately contact specialist.
These simple rules will allow you to amaze those around you with radiant smile and to maintain quality of your life at decent level.