New Set of Teeth: Dental Implants for the Elderly

The older people generally confront themselves with several age related oral hygiene problems. There are many missing teeth, so they can basically not chew the food correctly, and this in general affects greatly their life.

Therefore, several children of the elderly come to clinics nationwide and ask whether dental implants would be a possible option for their elderly parent.

If the elderly could have a strong set of teeth made of dental implants, they would be able to lead a much happier life, without so many restrictions, especially when it comes to chewing food.

In general, there are no age restrictions when it comes to dental implants. Most of the elderly lose their teeth because of age and genetic related diseases, such as diabetes for example.

Then, since they might be struggling with other conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, or other chronic diseases, they deserve at least to have healthy dentures, so that they can enjoy life much more.

In China for example, the majority of the older people struggle with a lot of missing teeth. The main problem there is that teeth implants do not fall under the scope of a reimbursement from Medicare (tooth implants in China cost between 5,000 and 6,000 yuan, which makes roughly $800!).

Therefore, they don’t have other option but to live on without a proper set of dentures, simply because they cannot afford to support such great costs.

Dental implants have a lot of advantages. They generally feel just like a natural tooth, and they behave the same. After the implant process, the patient will be able to chew normally just about anything, and he/she doesn’t have to worry about the dentures sliding or coming off in the mouth.

It takes about 1 month until these implants will start to feel like natural teeth, and until the patient can chew normally the food. With implants, too, it is extremely important to maintain regular oral hygiene habits.

The patient has to brush the teeth, floss them, and then use the special rinse twice a day, just like he/she does with the natural set of teeth.