Clinical Challenges in the Treatment of Patients Dental Aging:
The dental professionals are seeing an increasing number of very elderly patients in their practices , which requires them to take account of certain age-related problems that can affect dental treatment. A number of troubling aspects can influence both the treatment plan and the treatment itself. Typically Older Adults have fewer economic resources in order to finance dental treatment. For example , the Elderly ( over 85 years) are twice as likely that their income is at or below the poverty considered in relation to Older Adults 65-74 level (32 vs. 16% ) . The decline of physiological age-related capacities may decrease the therapeutic safety margins of many drugs and increase susceptibility to infection.
Older Adults in common is the presence of chronic diseases; dentists must be current and sufficiently familiar with common diseases such as hypertension and stroke , heart disease , diabetes , mental illness , comorbidity ( combination of 2 or more diseases in the same patient ), the increased use of drugs and , uncoordinated medical treatments. It is also important to identify many organic disorders in the elderly are presented atypically with signs and symptoms often unclear . For example , myocardial infarction without chest pain , pulmonary embolism without tachypnea , pneumonia without fever and delirium as the main sign in pathologies such as congestive heart failure, bacteriosa laendocarditis and adverse drug reactions.
The very elderly patient assessment should include careful examination of any major complaint (eg, duration, timing , exacerbating factors , the probability that the complaint is exaggerated or too small ) and the needs of the patient exposed , treatment priorities and the expectations you have with respect to treatment success.
In particular , the dentist should assess the dental needs within the context of the function , symptoms , pathology and aesthetics.
Should ask what is his use of dental services , satisfaction with previous dental treatments and their dentists and their involvement in preventive behavior habits . The intraoral examination of the very elderly patient should be emphasized in problems such as xerostomia , the crowns and root caries, periodontal disease , the degree of resorption of the alveolar ridges, or denture stomatitis induced lesions, oral cancer and masticatory function .