With ageing, a series of degenerative changes will occur in the oral tissues of the elderly: such as abrasion or damage of the enamel on the occlusal surface; exposure and wear of the tooth neck; recession of the alveolar bone, gum atrophy and exposure of the tooth roots; reduction of salivary gland secretion, dryness of the oral mucosa and reduction of elasticity. These are the factors that lead to the increase of the incidence of caries and periodontal disease in the elderly. The tooth loss caused by these oral diseases will seriously affect the oral chewing function, appearance image, pronunciation and social communication ability. However, elderly people often think that tooth loss and bad mouth are natural phenomena of old age, and feel that oral health care is optional, or there are various misconceptions about oral health care. Therefore, it is necessary for the elderly to establish a correct awareness of oral health care, strengthen oral health care with an optimistic and positive attitude, and promote the health of the whole body. Its oral health care considerations are as follows.
1. Maintain good oral hygiene
With the aging degeneration of the whole body tissues and organs, saliva secretion decreases, the mechanical rinsing effect and self-cleaning effect of the oral cavity is weakened, food residues and bacterial residues are easy to cause dental caries and periodontal diseases, so how to maintain good oral hygiene becomes the first priority of oral health care for the elderly.
(1) Insist on effective tooth brushing.
① Brush your teeth every morning and evening, and if you have the conditions, brush your teeth after every meal. Brushing is an effective way to remove food residues, soft scale and plaque. Older people have poor oral self-cleaning ability, so brushing is more important to maintain good oral hygiene.
② Choose a suitable health care toothbrush and use fluoride toothpaste: The elderly should choose a health care toothbrush with a small brush head, soft and flexible bristles, and a flat and wide brush handle that is easy to hold and not easy to slip off. It is better to use fluoride toothpaste, which can prevent root surface caries.
③ Apply correct brushing method: avoid horizontal brushing method, i.e. left and right sawing brushing, use vertical brushing method or more beneficial to oral health, otherwise it is easy to cause gum atrophy and wedge-shaped defect of tooth neck.
(2) Promote the use of mouthwash.
Proper use of mouthwash can play an adequate cleaning role for other parts of the mouth that cannot be cleaned by brushing.
(3) Appropriate use of dental floss and toothpicks to remove food debris and soft scale from the interdental space.
① Toothpicks: toothpicks are suitable for gum recession and large gaps between teeth. Choose a flat or wedge-shaped wooden toothpick and slide it slowly along the two tooth surfaces of each gap, without using too much force or too fast.
② Flossing: Flossing is recommended for those whose gums are not atrophied. When flossing, pay attention to the direction of the floss to enter the adjacent surface of the teeth, and do not use excessive force to avoid damaging the gum tissue.
(4) Regular scaling (commonly known as scaling).
Older people always brush their teeth leaving some “dead spots” that are not easy to clean, and over time, tartar is formed. Regular scaling helps to remove plaque, pigment and tartar from the teeth, which is beneficial to oral health.
(5) Elderly people who wear denture should pay attention to cleaning the denture and abutment teeth
① The denture should be cleaned after meals and the removable denture should be removed from the mouth and soaked in water or denture cleaning solution before going to bed.
(2) Carefully and carefully brush the teeth, especially the adjacent surface and the place where the retainer is placed, to prevent plaque accumulation causing caries.
(6) Older people with all teeth missing should also pay attention to maintain oral hygiene by rinsing their mouth.
2. Develop good oral hygiene habits and life style
(1) Eat less hard food and correct the habit of biting hard objects with teeth.
Elderly people have different degrees of wear and tear due to long-term chewing teeth, which can lead to dentin allergy and even joint disorders. Therefore, the elderly should try to eat less betel nut, sugar cane and other hard foods, not to mention the use of teeth to open bottle caps, etc., to prevent damage to teeth.
(2) Maintain good eating habits and improve the nutritional status of meals.
The elderly should pay attention to a light diet, strictly limit all kinds of sweets, eat more fresh vegetables and fruits, and at the same time increase the intake of calcium, iron and other nutritional elements.
(3) Develop good living habits.
The high incidence age of oral cancer is from 40 to 60 years old, and good living habits of the elderly are very important to prevent the occurrence of oral cancer.
① Do not smoke, do not drink alcohol, do not chew betel nut, do not drink overheated drinks and do not eat overheated food.
② Avoid bad stimulation, timely sharpening of sharp edges of denture and sharp tips of teeth, timely extraction of residual roots and crowns to avoid repeated stimulation of oral soft tissues.
3. Regular oral health examination and timely treatment of oral diseases
(1) Every six months or a year for an oral examination, with disease early treatment, no disease early prevention.
(2) When the tooth is hot, cold, sweet and sour stimulation pain, should be timely to the regular oral health care institutions for examination and treatment, do not delay until the pain is unbearable and then treatment.
(3) When the following symptoms appear, it indicates periodontal disease and needs timely treatment.
①Red, swollen and loose gums, gums bleed easily when brushing or biting (blood on toothbrush bristles or food).
②The teeth have different degrees of looseness, exposed roots, and weakness in biting.
(③Pus overflows when lightly pressing the red and swollen gums, and bad breath.
(4) Pay attention to the following symptoms when they occur, and go to the hospital for examination to exclude oral cancer.
①Mouth ulcers that do not heal for more than 2 weeks.
②White or red spots (plaques) appear on the oral mucosa.
③Non-inflammatory swelling in the mouth with enlarged lymph nodes in the neck.
④ Unexplained numbness or pain in the oral cavity and neck (excluding other causes).
4. Pay attention to timely restoration of missing teeth and rehabilitation of basic oral functions
Tooth loss is very common in the elderly, because the missing teeth affect the chewing and digestive functions, and also have different degrees of impact on language, appearance and psychology, so the timely restoration of missing teeth and the correct use of the denture for the elderly is an oral health care for the elderly that should not be ignored.
(1) Correctly choose the timing of veneering and timely restoration of missing teeth: Generally, veneering is performed 2-3 months after tooth extraction.
(2) Keep the denture in a functional state.
① Pay attention to the protection of the denture (commonly known as dentures), take it off and brush it after meals to keep it clean, and take it off and soak it in water before going to bed to prevent deformation.
②Check the restored denture regularly and modify and adjust it in time when there is discomfort.
If the denture is worn for a long time and symptoms such as redness, swelling, pain and ulcers occur in the oral tissues, the denture should be examined and treated or replaced by the doctor in time.