Caring for your elderly parent is something that you do out of love and concern, and if you can barely tolerate the odor coming from their mouth or the smell of their rotting teeth, it's time to get them to the dentist. You don't want their quality of life to be lessened because of their oral health, or have them suffer because they don't want to spend money on dental care. Here are a few of the things you want to do to help your parent.
Go Over Insurance, Payment Options, and Discounts
You first want to look at your parent's dental insurance, if they have any, to see what dentist you can see, and what the coverage is. When you talk with the dental office, you want to talk about the following:
This is just some of the information that you want to get, so you can find out if your parent can get some work done now and then pay what they owe over the course of a few months.
Get a Cleaning and Check-up
The teeth probably need to be cleaned, and if there is a lot of decay, it may be necessary to do a deep tissue cleaning on the mouth. The dentist will take x-rays, look at any old cavities or concerns, and then address the new concerns that they have. If a lot of teeth need to be removed or worked on, it may be best to look at a long lasting solution like dentures or implants.
Ask About Dentures or Implants
If your parent wouldn't mind the surgery of implanting the permanent dental implants, and this option is in their budget, this is a great way to get strong teeth in the mouth that can last a lifetime. If only some of the teeth need to be replaced, partial dentures may be a more practical option. Talk with your parent about the pros and cons of dentures and implants, the costs, and see what they want to invest the time and money into.
You don't want to constantly worry or smell your parent's bad breath, worry that they have some type of infection in their mouth, or worry that they have teeth that are badly damaged. Find a local dentist, such as Kyle J Frisinger DMD, that is familiar with working with elderly people, and get your parent the treatment and relief they need.
Share26 October 2017
Hi, my name is Kevin Nelson and I want to tell you about my experience. I had a painful tooth so I went to see my dentist. After the examination, he said that I needed to have a root canal to save the tooth. I told the dentist to just pull the tooth instead and then he explained why that wasn't a good idea. He said that pulling the tooth would cause additional problems and then he told me what could happen. I didn't want any more problems, so the dentist did the root canal and I'm glad that he did. I wanted to write a blog to tell others about the benefits of a root canal and what to expect during the procedure. I hope that by getting the word out, other people won't make the same mistake that I almost did by getting a perfectly good tooth pulled.