Patients can learn more about how their dental health fluctuates with age from a specialist at jamison family dentistry. Your teeth and gums experience aging-related alterations, much like most body parts. However, you do not have to live with tooth loss and gum disease in the future. If you take the opportunity and make an effort to practice good oral hygiene every day, you may have a healthy, appealing smile well into your elderly years.
It is correct that as we age, we get more oral problems. Fortunately, recognizing these problems early may help in avoiding permanent damage from dental decay and gum disease.
Knowing the common senior oral health problems
Let’s take a closer look at some of the most common oral health problems that older people face and a few tips on managing and avoiding them.
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Dry mouth
The most common oral health problem among seniors is, by far, dry mouth. The disorder appears if the mouth’s secretion of saliva falls below its normal range. The body’s natural defense against dangerous oral germs that multiply in the mouth is saliva. The acids created by plaque that cause tooth decay are neutralized by saliva. Additionally, it helps to remove food particles from the outermost layer of our teeth and gums that remain in the mouth after eating.
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Bad breathe
Patients with chronic dry mouth often also develop persistent events of bad breath. The most common reason for foul breath is poor oral hygiene, but additional medical issues or bacterial infections in the mouth may also lead to the problem.
Along with dry mouth, diabetes and some respiratory illnesses can cause the development of foul breath. If allowed to remain stationary, oral bacteria start to disintegrate and decay. When saliva production slows and the mouth becomes dry, this occurs quickly. Bad breath develops as a result of the degradation caused by bacteria.
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Gum disease
Gum disease is the most commonly untreated illness in the world. In the US, periodontitis, the most serious gum disease, affects more than half of everyone. As people age, the disease’s occurrence only rises. Unbelievably, moderate to severe gum disease affects 75% of individuals aged 65 and older.
The high incidence of loss of teeth experienced by seniors has been greatly affected by the high prevalence of gum disease among people over 65. Although many people think losing teeth is part of becoming older, the issue is usually caused by letting untreated gum disease wreck damage your dental health.
