IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i16p5713-d396141.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Oral Health and Care for Elderly People with Alzheimer’s Disease

Author

Listed:
  • Sherry Shiqian Gao

    (Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China)

  • Chun Hung Chu

    (Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China)

  • Fanny Yuk Fun Young

    (Department of Business Administration, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong Kong 999077, China)

Abstract

Dementia is one of the main causes of disability among elderly people. It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects elderly people’s ability to perform daily living activities. Alzheimer’s disease is the main subtype of dementia and causes declining memory, reasoning, and communication skills. They also have behavioural and psychological symptoms, such as depression and aggression. It is essential for them to maintain good oral health, as oral health is an important and integral part of their general health. Neglecting oral health allows dental diseases to develop, and these diseases are difficult and costly to treat. However, dental diseases can be treated with ambulatory care rather than hospitalisation and emergency care. Elderly people should establish daily oral hygiene care routines during the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. They should have regular dental examinations and early minimal interventions to prevent the need for extensive and complicated procedures. Maintaining oral health becomes challenging, however, when Alzheimer’s disease progresses to the middle and late stages. Because elderly people might forget or lose interest in keeping their teeth healthy, caretakers and community health workers may need to take over this task. Dentists should provide guidance on the maintenance of oral health, as the techniques used to provide this support vary depending on the elderly people concerned. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of oral health and the importance of oral care for elderly people with Alzheimer’s disease. The paper also discusses appropriate dental interventions and techniques for maintaining good oral health and helping people with Alzheimer’s to enjoy a satisfactory quality of life.

Suggested Citation

  • Sherry Shiqian Gao & Chun Hung Chu & Fanny Yuk Fun Young, 2020. "Oral Health and Care for Elderly People with Alzheimer’s Disease," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-8, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:16:p:5713-:d:396141
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/16/5713/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/16/5713/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sherry Shiqian Gao & Kitty Jieyi Chen & Duangporn Duangthip & Edward Chin Man Lo & Chun Hung Chu, 2020. "The Oral Health Status of Chinese Elderly People with and without Dementia: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-8, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yoann Maitre & Rachid Mahalli & Pierre Micheneau & Alexis Delpierre & Gilles Amador & Frédéric Denis, 2021. "Evidence and Therapeutic Perspectives in the Relationship between the Oral Microbiome and Alzheimer’s Disease: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-24, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stefano Cianetti & Chiara Valenti & Massimiliano Orso & Giuseppe Lomurno & Michele Nardone & Anna Palma Lomurno & Stefano Pagano & Guido Lombardo, 2021. "Systematic Review of the Literature on Dental Caries and Periodontal Disease in Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Individuals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-22, November.
    2. Haiying Guo & Shuli Chang & Xiaoqin Pi & Fang Hua & Han Jiang & Chang Liu & Minquan Du, 2021. "The Effect of Periodontitis on Dementia and Cognitive Impairment: A Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-17, June.
    3. Alice Kit Ying Chan & Manisha Tamrakar & Chloe Meng Jiang & Edward Chin Man Lo & Katherine Chiu Man Leung & Chun Hung Chu, 2021. "A Systematic Review on Caries Status of Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-15, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:16:p:5713-:d:396141. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.