Significance of Dental Care in Elderly: Overview

Sri Lakshmi Ajit^*
*Correspondence: Sri Lakshmi Ajit, Department of Dentistry, Hyderabad, Telangana, India, Email:

Editorial

Dental health is critical for the general health, convenience, & fundamental dignity of society's senior citizens. Despite considerable advances in overall dental hygiene throughout many industrialized nations, elderly individuals remain to have disproportionately more dental issues than younger folks. In underdeveloped nations, elderly people's bad dental health is frequently aggravated by the consequences of oral problems that began at an earlier age, and therefore has a bigger influence on health later in life. It must be understood that poor oral health encompasses more than just unhealthy gums and teeth. Oral issues are a cause for further hospitalizations than what most people believe, with elderly persons highlighted as a significant risk demographic. Inflammation and infection are grave repercussions of adverse dental health outcomes, and dental problems are indeed a cause for further hospitalizations than most people seem to think. The link among dental & systemic wellness is now widely understood, especially in the context of numerous chronic illnesses including coronary heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Furthermore, a growing body of data suggests that oral microbial species may have a role in the development of dementia and respiratory infections in the elderly. Several elderly individuals, on the other side, have experience dental illness, which manifests itself in impaired mastic capacity, xerostomia, and oral discomfort, as well as halitosis, discoloured teeth, and oral debris, all of which can suggest neglected oral hygiene and contribute to a bad body perception. These physiological aches and pains can cause malnutrition and a weaker immune capacity, lowering one's standard of living. Regardless of the fact that proper dental health and a functioning dentition have been associated to an optimal oral wellbeing and better standard of living, many elderly persons continue to struggle, irrespective of cognitive level. Dental health must be contemplated as a rudimentary civil right, as the repercussion of dental health and hygiene has effects beyond mouth, on the overall health and wellbeing, particularly given that circumstances like deterioration of tooth and periodontitis are principally preventable via routine hygienic practices and availability of affordable primary health care. It has been discovered that dental illness may have dramatic consequences on a person as they age, even if it begins in early adulthood, resulting in a loss in quality adjusted life expectancy, with people from lower socioeconomic categories being particularly at risk. Several hurdles have been identified by the dentistry profession, which is working to tailor dental treatment to the demands of this increasing population, including through residential care solutions. Yet, people' or their careers' access to such resources is frequently still contingent on their ability. There is a need for non-dental healthcare workers and dental professionals to work together more. This combined responsibility for dental care might be the key to better early detection of oral diseases and the implementation of preventative dental health interventions. Non-dental health care providers' knowledge, abilities, and attitudes about oral health are critical to enhancing oral health care for older individuals. All clinical professionals in the healthcare industry should be able to examine an individual's dental health. Oral health screening tools have been created to aid in the process. Non-dental practitioners may use such tools to design oral care regimens and evaluate their effectiveness, monitor oral health status, and identify dental issues that require referral to a dentist or oral health therapist for additional guidance or treatment. Regular use of such tools by those with cognitive decline may help identify issues where people are no longer able to communicate their own needs. There is mounting evidence that dental health is critical not only to overall health but also to fundamental quality of life. Despite this, our healthcare systems as a whole continue to fail the elderly people of our community because we can't afford to provide them with the fundamental decency of having a clean mouth and being free of pain. To highlight the relevance of oral health as a component of overall health and hence a basic human right, a paradigm change is necessary.