Dental Care

Dental Care

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Here is a copy of some info that I found a couple of years ago when there was a spate of questions about dental care on the list:

There are a number of products available over-the-counter. Laclede makes a Biotene series with dry mouth toothpaste, mouthwash, and chewing gum, plus an antibacterial moisturizing gel for the mouth. The pamphlet says that drug stores should carry this or be able to order from their wholesaler(s). Laclede can be reached at 1-800-922-5856.

Another company, Gebauer, makes an aerosol synthetic saliva called Salivart. 1-800-321-9348.

There is a branch of the National Institutes of Health called the National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research. They have a pamphlet "Dry Mouth (Xerostomia)" that contains general info and suggestions (see your dentist at least 3 times a year, ask if you should use a re-mineralizing solution or prescription-strength fluoride, use a humidifier, etc), and mentions their Dry Mouth Clinic and research. Copies available from NIDR, PO Box 54793, Washington, DC 20032. The NIDR has a web site at http://www.nidr.nih.gov.

The American Dental Association has a web site at http://www.ada.org. It includes quite a few journal articles about dry mouth. Unfortunately, they are available only to ADA members :-( . However, the ADA and NIDR could both be suggested by PWP to their dentists as sources of further info.

National Oral Health Information Clearinghouse is a service of the National Institute of Dental Research, which is itself part of the National Institutes of Health. They have a web site at http://www.aerie.com/nohicweb. Their e-mail is nidr@aerie.com. You can e-mail a request for information; they will perform a search for you and send the results to your snail-mail address. Great service, no cost.

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Have not seen anything about difficult dental care on the Digest..........My husband just does not brush well and consequently the food packs. Then of course he cannot rinse well. We go for the dentist to clean every three months (expensive) and yesterday he had three cavities.

Any suggestions would be very helpful. He will not allow the electric tooth brush in his mouth!

Transporting him for Dr appts is very difficult for me. I must pick him up from Day Care first and then handle the getting out of the car.

I will appreciate any advice anyone has. Thank you.

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They have a product called "Toothettes" not sure about spelling, but they are a shaped sponge attached to a lollipop like handle, they have the dry ingredients for cleaning on them. You might contact a nursing home and ask where they get them. I used to dip them in a little mouth wash and clean the mouth, and pockets in the mouth for food that lingered. It reached back there very nicely and you can clean the mouth out more easily than with a toothbrush.

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We have the same problem. He will use the electric tooth brush but only for a very short time. He is not at the point where I can take over and do the brushing for him. I talked to him about the expense as he is never into paying out money. That helped him to remember to brush longer for a few days and then we were back to 30 seconds at the most. When I mentioned it one time he said "I gave it a good go" and I could tell that I wasn't to say anything again.

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Dad's peridontist had him use a mouth rinse called peridex (not sure of spelling). It's used once or twice a day and it's designed to prevent bacteria build up and decay. You'll need a prescription for it.

My dad has a mouthful of dental work (partials, bridges, etc.) and had a hard time brushing/cleaning well. The worse his condition got, the harder it was for him (difficult to coordinate brushing, didn't brush for very long, etc.)

The only thing is -- with the peridex you need to make sure they spit it out after swishing it around in their mouth for 30 seconds. They told us swallowing a little bit here and there isn't a problem, but we needed to make sure he did swallow the whole thing every time. We didn't have any problem with this part.

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I wish I'd known about Toothettes sooner!

One day my husband's DDS told us he had absesses under almost every tooth, and recommended having them all out. This was confirmed by second opinion. The surgeries were uncomplicated, but stressful. (Also costly.) The original dentures were never comfortable. We finally went to a specialist, who charged $3,500., but at least Ed wears them . . . most of the time.

Could this be related to sleeping with his mouth open? I think I read a suggestion that dry mouth could do this.

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Yes, dry mouth absolutely can and does cause dental caries as well as oral diseases of other kinds. It's very tough to deal with, too. I recommend asking the dentist for advice; more frequent cleanings, fluoride treatments, sipping water frequently, artificial saliva, are all possible helps in avoiding tooth loss.

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You can probably find toothettes at your local medical supply store.

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My husband had a lot of gum trouble when he was still brushing his own teeth. Now, he has his gums scraped every three months, and he uses Periodex as a mouthwash. His caregivers now do the brushing with an electric toothbrush, and he has not had any gum surgery for a long time. It is my understanding that Sinemet, in addition to making them more susceptible to skin cancers, makes them more susceptible to gum disease, or maybe it is the drooling that goes with the disease. Anyway, gum disease can be a problem in all the Parkinson Syndrome illnesses.

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I did a search for Toothettes and came up with the following:
Jeff

Toothette-Plus® Short and Extended Term System components can be ordered individually to meet the specific needs of the facility and your patients/residents.

Toothette® Disposable Brush - flavored, pk 20

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