Seniors Dental Services: Aging can affect the dental health of seniors in several ways. As you age, your teeth will become more worn down; you will have more medication that can affect your salivary flow, and you may have lost some or all of your teeth over the many years. Dental Essence is the family dental practice that provides professional dental services for seniors.
Seniors who still have their teeth will have more wear and tear from decades of chewing. Those who have had their teeth for 50 years or longer are more likely to have fracture lines, wear facets and attrition. Younger patients in their 30s should not have any fracture lines and hardly any wear facets. Crowns are the standard treatment for teeth with multiple fracture lines.
As you age, you are more likely to be on multiple medications for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or blood-thinning medications, etc. These medications can often have a disastrous side effect of reducing your salivary flow in your mouth. The dry mouth from the reduction of salivary flow will lead to an increase in decay. Saliva acts as a buffering agent and neutralizes the acid damage that occurs from the decay process.
If you have lost all of your teeth you can replace your teeth with dentures. Some patients find that the upper denture fits quite nicely and can chew well. But the lower denture is often loose and moves around the mouth and you cannot chew foods. In cases like this, you can get implant-supported dentures which will allow you to chew your foods.