Dental care for elderly in nursing homes reduces and prevents the effects of aging on the teeth and mouth. Taste sensation may diminish with aging. Older adults may find their food tastes bland. For more taste, they have to add seasonings such as salt which may be harmful to some people or they may like eating very hot foods that burn their gums.They may also have disorders or take medicines that affect their taste ability. Such disorders include gum disease, infections in the nose, mouth or sinuses, chronic kidney or liver disease or mouth cancer. Drugs affecting taste include medicine used to treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and depression.
Teeth enamel tends to wear with aging, making teeth vulnerable to staining, decay and damage. Tooth loss is the top reason that older adults can’t chew as well and thus might not eat enough nutrients. When older adults lose their teeth, a portion of their jaw bone that held the teeth together gradually recedes and doesn’t maintain its previous height.
A reduction in saliva production occurs as one ages and can be reduced by some drugs. The decrease in the production of saliva causes dry mouth. The gums may begin to recede as they get thinner. Receding gums and dry mouth increase the likelihood of cavities. Some professionals believe that a dry mouth may make the lining of the esophagus susceptible to injury. Mobile dental services should take care of this issue before it becomes a serious problem.
Despite receding gums and dry mouth, a lot of older adults retain their teeth, especially people who don’t develop periodontal disease or cavities. Older people who lose their teeth will need full dentures or partial dentures. Some may even need dental implants.
Another major cause of tooth loss in older people is periodontal disease. This disease destroys the gums and other supporting structures caused by long-term bacteria accumulation. It is likely to happen in people with bad oral hygiene, people with certain disorders such as poor nutrition, diabetes, aids, leukemia and people who smoke. Though rare, serious dental infections caused by bacteria can lead to pockets of pus in the brain, unexplained fevers, cavernous sinus thrombosis, and endocarditis in people who have severe heart complications.
Bad breath
Certain diseases produce things that can be detected on the breath. However, these odors are mild and not categorized as bad breath. The failure of the liver gives the breath a unique mousy odor. The breath may smell like ammonia or urine if one has kidney failure. Uncontrolled, severe diabetes makes the breath smell like acetone.
Causes of bad breath
It is important for dental care for elderly in nursing homes professionals to know the cause of bad breath before attempting to treat it. In most cases, bad breath is caused by the mouth. Some of the common causes of bad breath include tobacco use, periodontal diseases, certain alcoholic beverages and foods and odor-causing bacteria in the mouth and on the tongue. Bad breath is mostly caused by the action of some types of mouth bacteria on uncleaned food particles.
