Elderly people's missing teeth affect their health

Author: Ma Shuai Beijing Chaoyang Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University

Reviewer: Guo Shubin, Chief Physician, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University

In daily life, we often see some elderly people with missing teeth. Many people think this is normal, believing that "when people get old, their teeth will degenerate and eventually fall out."

But is this really the case? Will people lose teeth as they age?

1. Aging is inevitable, but tooth loss is not inevitable

People do not necessarily lose teeth when they get old. There are many elderly people who have good teeth and can still eat whatever they want. So, to be precise, most elderly people will have the problem of missing teeth, but people do not necessarily lose teeth when they get old.

Figure 1 Copyright image, no permission to reprint

The reason for missing teeth is, on the one hand, the degeneration of teeth as people age, but mainly because many people neglect the management of their oral health as they age, leading to some common oral problems and thus tooth loss.

Periodontitis and dental caries are common dental health problems and are the main causes of tooth loss in the elderly. These two dental problems do not occur suddenly, but are related to regular dental care and oral hygiene [1].

Perhaps due to the influence of wrong cognition or the suffering from multiple chronic diseases, many people no longer pay attention to dental care when they get older and rarely have regular check-ups, allowing dental problems to become more and more serious, eventually leading to tooth loss.

Even in this situation, many elderly people do not think there is anything wrong with it. They believe that if their teeth fall out, they can just eat more soft food and less hard food.

But in fact, missing teeth not only affects eating, but also affects facial appearance and even induces other diseases.

2. The harm of missing teeth

The most direct impact of missing teeth is that the chewing function becomes worse, especially the loss of front teeth, premolars and molars will affect the cutting, mashing and grinding of food. It is more difficult to eat, and you have to give up many of your favorite foods.

When chewing function declines, digestion and absorption will also be affected. Many times, the elderly cannot chew food thoroughly because of tooth loss, so they have to swallow it directly, which can easily increase the burden on the stomach and intestines. The gastrointestinal function of the elderly has declined, so this will increase the burden.

If this continues for a long time, it will not only affect the absorption of nutrients, but may also cause gastric ulcers and increase the risk of suffocation by esophageal foreign bodies.

In addition, missing teeth can also affect the voice of the elderly, which is often called "slurred speech" and "leaky speech". This will have a certain impact on the elderly's daily communication and social interaction, and over time, it will also affect the mental health of the elderly.

I believe many people have heard the saying that "breathing through the mouth will cause facial protrusion". This is essentially because the teeth do not grow "standardly" enough, which causes the gums to protrude and affects the facial shape.

The same is true for missing teeth. If there are too many missing teeth, the upper and lower jaws will lose chewing stimulation, and the alveolar bone will gradually degenerate and absorb, causing the cheeks and surrounding muscles to relax, the lips and cheeks to sink inward, the facial wrinkles to increase, and an obvious aging face to appear.

What’s worse, due to the decreased chewing function on the edentulous side, people may develop a habit of relying on the healthy side for chewing, which aggravates the stability of the temporomandibular joint and causes discomfort such as limited mouth opening, headache, and tinnitus.

It should be noted that each tooth is interdependent. If missing teeth are not treated in time, more and more teeth will be missing.

Therefore, dental problems must be taken seriously and treated early.

3. How to effectively prevent missing teeth

To prevent tooth loss, you should pay attention to oral hygiene management.

Learn the correct way to brush your teeth . Use the horizontal vibrating brushing method when brushing your teeth in the morning and evening , and keep the habit of rinsing your mouth after meals. Keep using dental floss, water flossers and other tools to clean the adjacent surfaces of your teeth to keep your teeth clean.

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Teeth cleaning , which we often call " teeth washing ", has a good effect on preventing periodontal disease. It is recommended to wash teeth once a year. If combined with gum massage, the effect will be better, because gum massage is conducive to epithelial keratinization and promotes local blood circulation.

People who smoked when they were young need to pay extra attention , as smoking is closely related to periodontal disease. Therefore, it is recommended that the elderly actively quit smoking , which is also more beneficial to dental health.

Effectively controlling the growth and reproduction of pathogenic factors such as bacteria and plaque can effectively prevent tooth decay. This can be started with the choice of toothpaste, such as choosing toothpaste containing fluoride to inhibit bacteria, etc., to improve the anti-caries ability of teeth and strengthen teeth.

Tooth decay is closely related to the food you eat , especially high-sugar foods. Therefore, the elderly should control their sugar intake , which not only protects their teeth but also helps control blood sugar.

Oral problems should be discovered, diagnosed and treated early . Therefore, it is recommended that the elderly have an oral examination every 6 to 12 months. If periodontitis and caries are treated when they are first discovered, further changes can be prevented through simple tooth cleaning.

Figure 3 Copyright image, no permission to reprint

The prevalence of tooth loss among the elderly is very high, but the rate of denture restoration is not high. The main reason is that people do not pay enough attention to the problem of tooth loss among the elderly. Therefore, changing concepts and understanding the harm of tooth loss is the first step to effectively reduce tooth loss among the elderly.

Caring for your teeth should not only start from childhood, but also be a lifelong commitment. Only when your oral cavity is healthy can you "eat delicious food and have a healthy body"!

References

[1] Liu Xiangning. Elderly people are missing teeth, but they are also missing health. Public Health, 2021, 437: 50-51.