6 Ways To Care For Your Teeth on National Senior Citizens Day

Lakecia Hammond
Zentist
Published in
2 min readAug 22, 2017

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They watch us grow, instill wisdom, and even give us a hard time in the name of love. They’re our grandparents, our neighbors and even our best friends. Today we celebrate National Senior Citizen Day — a day created to support and honor our seniors and highlight their valuable contributions to our communities.

The reality is when you are 60+, you need to pay extra attention to your oral health regime to ensure no problems arise in the future. We’ve gathered 6 ways seniors can be sure their oral health is up to par.

1. Taking Care of Dry Mouth

The reality with getting older is your mouth will start to get dryer which accelerates tooth decay. You’ll want to combat this by using a mouthwash and even using gum that helps produce more saliva.

2. Denture Cleaning

Teeth require a thorough cleaning every day and this is no different for dentures. Dentures do, however, require a denture cleaner recommended by your dentist. On average, your gums need about 4 hours denture-free per day to maintain gum health. Sorry, simply soaking your dentures in water won’t do the trick when it comes to killing all of that bacteria built up throughout the day.

3. Daily Cleaning

Your mouth needs daily cleaning including brushing and flossing since seniors are more susceptible to tooth decay. Even brushing between meals is to your benefit.

4. No Tobacco

You’ve heard it your whole life and we can’t urge people enough the harm associated with tobacco. Maybe you’ve never experienced direct consequences to smoking or chewing tobacco through the years but that doesn’t change what could happen in the future. Your dentist may be able to help you in finding tobacco cessation products.

5. Drinking Water

Drinking water helps people of all ages stay hydrated. Fluoride was added to public water supply in order to prevent tooth decay while also helping your enamel.

6. Dentist Visits (Surprise)

It’s imperative that you’re making all of your dental appointments, but even more so when you’re 60 and up. In fact, according to CDC, nearly 1 in 5 of adults aged 65 or older have lost all of their teeth. If you’ve experience tooth loss and have not considered ‘dental implants cost’ or searched ‘dental care near me’, now’s your chance. Get treated at Zentist.io.

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