The Ageing Dentition Flashcards
what is the life course of a dentition
primary dentition
secondary dentition
partially dentate
edentulous
what are the reasons that teeth can be missing
- congenitally missing
- trauma
- head and neck cancer
- periodontal disease
- dental caries
- endodontic infection
- NCTSL
- exfoliation
what are the risk factors for losing teeth / missing teeth
- socio-cultural
- environmental
- lifestyle
- medical status
- HPV
- alcohol
- smoking / tobacco use
- nutritional deficiency
- genetic
- socioeconomic status
- sugar
- oral hygiene
- access
- impairment / disability
- salivary flow
- health system
what are some of the challenges of the aging population
• Increased number of people with long term conditions
○ An estimated 4 million older people in the UK (36% of people aged 65-74 and 47% of those aged 75+) have a limiting longstanding illness.
• Increasing age with concurrent increase in co-morbidities (55-98%) ○ - Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke ○ - Cancer ○ - Diabetes ○ - COPD
• Polypharmacy
○ Over 65s currently taking 10 medications or more = 16.4%
○ An older patient on multiple medications (many of which will have mouth dryness as a side effect) means the effect is compounded so dry mouth can be quite profound
§ A dry mouth can cause riot for your oral health and your quality of life in these situations
in regards to dental care, what impact does the aging population and systemic disease have
- A population at an increased risk of oral disease
- Polypharmacy
- Impaired ability to co-operate
• Access - moving and handling
○ Hoisting
○ Transfer to the dental chair
○ Mobility aids
- Medical conditions complicate the provision of dental treatment
- Medical conditions contraindicate the provision of dental treatment
what problems can the aging dentition experience
- poor oral hygiene
- caries
- periodontal disease
- oral mucosal diseases
- lichen planus
- head and neck cancer
why might an older person have poorer oral hygiene
- Perhaps the patient is relying on someone else to do their oral hygiene for them
○ Caring for Smiles is trying hard to address the training for someone caring for someone else’s oral hygiene - Perhaps the patient is caring for themselves but they have reduced co-ordination mobility, they don’t have strength in their arms to carry an electric toothbrush
○ Lots of barriers here
why can caries be a problem in the aging population?
what sort of caries causes the biggest problems
- Root caries is a real enemy in the older population
○ Root caries becomes circumferential which can then cause the crown to snap off
○ Especially if someone is wearing a partial denture the risk of root caries increases because there is extra plaque retention factors in the mouth where the gingival clasps are meeting
how does periodontal disease present problems in the aging population
- When patients have significant deep pockets it is a harbour for all the bacteria and periodontal pathogens
○ These pathogens have a potential link to both systemic and inflammatory disease
how can oral mucosal diseases impact elderly patients
- If the patients are not examined regularly then it is really easy to miss these fungal infections like denture induced stomatitis or ulcerative lichen planus
○ Things that can contribute to a poorer quality of life for the individual - You can also really commonly get traumatic ulcers
how can lichen planus cause problems to the elderly
- discomfort when eating
- Difficulty in performing oral hygiene
- Risk of malignant transformation
what can contraindicate certain therapies / treatments
• Systemic disease and polypharmacy may contraindicate certain therapies
○ Can be difficult to treat if they are already on multiple medications or have multiple other conditions which means they might not be able to tolerate our treatment for lichen planus (or other diseases)
○ Or that our treatment for this is actually contraindicated because of their other medical status as well
○ Can be complex
what is essential when treating a patient with head and neck cancer
Early Assessment, Diagnosis and Management are essential
but this doesnt happen often
why might patients not present with head and neck cancer until the disease is more advanced
○ Delay in diagnosis
○ Symptoms unable to be communicated
○ Lack of attention paid
○ Misdiagnosis
Or maybe they were treated inappropriately for their symptoms eg maybe they thought it was a fungal infection or something
what is the most common cause of death in patients with dysphagia associated with neurological impairment
aspiration pneumonia