My patient is 90 and stopped brushing his teeth over a year ago. Therefore I manually brush and floss his teeth. He always bites and chews on the toothbrush which makes the process very difficult and prohibits using a mechanical toothbrush. His gums have receded and a lot food gets stuck between the teeth. Sometimes he will pocket his food and I have to dig it out with a toothbrush. He cannot see a dentist because he will not cooperate and will resist any dental exam or cleaning. I thought of buying some type of teeth guard over the counter, but he would probably spit it out or choke on salvia accumulated in his mouth. Any recommendations?
Mom was doing this and turned out she had a fracture. Once we addressed the issue she no longer did the teeth grinding and clenching.
Hope this helps!
Why do you want to stop the teeth grinding?
Why do you think there would be accumulated saliva if he wore one?
My Dad is almost 92, about 5 years ago after his stroke his teeth started breaking, not due to grinding, just old brittle teeth. After months of encouragement, Dad went to the dentist, he has several mild abscesses and needed to have about 10 broken tooth roots removed. He took the antibiotices and had the worse of the broken teeth removed, then refused to go back to the dentist, that was 3 years ago. He has few intact teeth left, but no infections and does not care that his smile shows his few remaining snaggle teeth.
Dad does not have dementia. I have no idea if he brushes his teeth anymore.
There comes a time when we have to accept that our standards do not apply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93ixNssks1c