How can seniors protect their teeth?

As the saying goes, "tooth loss", but do you have to lose your teeth when you get old? Many people think that it is necessary for the elderly to lose their teeth, and they will lose their teeth when they reach a certain age. This is an incorrect understanding. Relevant experts said that as long as oral health care is well done, healthy teeth can accompany people throughout their lives. Modern medicine has long proven that teeth are not "old" but are caused by periodontal disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) standard for dental health is 8020, that is, 80-year-olds should have at least 20 functional teeth (that is, to be able to chew food normally). When people get old, the changes in their teeth will be very obvious. The digestive function of the elderly is poor, and it is even more important to have good teeth. To protect your teeth and periodontal, you must pay attention to the following points:

Actively prevent and treat various diseases that can cause tooth loosening and loss

Many elderly people think that the loosening and falling out of their teeth are natural phenomena, and they do not need and cannot be prevented. This view is wrong. Clinical studies have found that the looseness and loss of teeth in the elderly are mostly caused by diseases such as periodontal disease, endodontic disease and osteoporosis. Therefore, as long as the elderly actively prevent and treat the above-mentioned diseases, it is entirely possible for the elderly to have good teeth.

eat less hard foods

Human teeth are covered with a layer of enamel. If people often eat some hard food, this layer of enamel will be damaged due to excessive wear and tear, and even the deep dentin will be exposed, so that the pulp nerve will lose its protection. This not only easily makes people suffer from dentin hypersensitivity (inverted teeth), but also easily leads to more serious dental diseases such as tooth decay. Therefore, the elderly should try to eat less hard foods such as betel nut, sugar cane, hazelnut, etc., and they should not use their teeth to open bottle caps and pull nails to prevent damage to their teeth.

See a dentist regularly

Elderly people with oral diseases should be actively treated, caries should be filled, and periodontal disease should be systematically treated. Normally, we require that we must visit a dentist every 3 months, and do "tooth cleaning" and periodontal maintenance in time, and do our best to avoid the occurrence of periodontal disease and tooth loss.

Learn to use dental tools

Many elderly people only know that brushing or gargling is a good way to protect and clean teeth, but with the development and progress of technology, it provides us with a variety of options.

1. Dental floss , suitable for people with close teeth adjoining and small gap between teeth. There are two types of floss: one is floss and the other is floss stick. It is not just a simple thread, it not only removes our impacted food, but also cleans the plaque and soft dirt on the adjacent surface. Standard floss is more flexible, it matches the size of normal interdental spaces, and the correct use of dental floss will not make the interdental space larger.

2. Interdental brushes , also known as interdental brushes, are only suitable for people with large interdental spaces. It has a variety of models, which can be reasonably selected according to the actual size of its own interdental space, and the brush head can be twisted, bent and adjusted at will, which is very convenient to use. In addition, its bristles can penetrate deep into the triangle area, gingival sulcus and part of the periodontal pockets exposed after the gingival papilla recedes, so as to better clean the interdental space.

3. Dental irrigator , also known as water flosser, is suitable for people who have large gaps between teeth caused by periodontitis, are prone to jamming or are undergoing orthodontic treatment. The high-pressure water jet it sprays can wash away the loose plaque on the tooth surface, and can even reach the interdental spaces, gingival sulcus or periodontal pockets that are not easily accessible by a toothbrush to wash out food impaction. An irrigator combined with an interdental brush or dental floss can achieve better cleaning results. In addition, the irrigator can massage the gums and increase the blood circulation of the local gums, which is beneficial to periodontal health.

Teeth are the chewing organs of people, and the quality of a person's teeth is directly related to the health of the body. Only when the elderly protect their teeth can they eat mamakang and live a long and healthy life!