Taking Care of Your Teeth: What Seniors Should Know

It’s not a foregone conclusion that as you age, you will need dentures. According to Dr. Kaveh Mirsaeidi, a dentist and former co-owner of Soleil Dental Centre in Elliot Lake, if you are proactive, you can save the pearly whites you were born with and avoid the hassle, expense, and, for many the inconvenience of replacement choppers.

Many seniors do not consider that saving their existing teeth is an option, and so they give little regard to them, says Dr. Mirsaeidi. Many people do not pay attention to tooth breakdown until it is too late; they may ignore the pain in their teeth for a long time until it becomes unbearable.

Once this happens, there are two solutions: the tooth can be rebuilt or removed. 

Rebuilding teeth can be extremely expensive, costing around $1,000 to $2,000 per tooth.

The alternative of removing the tooth is a simple procedure, so it is the less expensive option. However, an obvious downside of this is losing your tooth. 

To compensate, people often choose dentures, which are much more affordable and look great. However, Dr. Mirsaeidi says they never have the same functionally as your original teeth. 

Regular care can save you from having to make this choice, he says. 

You can catch issues early on by getting annual or biannual checkups and cleanings. “At that level, teeth can be saved with maybe a couple of hundred bucks a tooth,” Dr. Mirsaeidi says.

Many people may not want to receive regular care because they are not in pain. However,  the cost of maintaining your teeth is significantly reduced with regular checkups.

“One of the things we’re trying to establish at Soleil is that regular care is worth it,” Dr. Mirsaeidi says. “Financially it’s worth it, and no denture or implant or anything else is as good as your own tooth. Every tooth is worth keeping for as long as you possibly can, and with regular care, our teeth can last a lifetime.”

Addressing seniors’ concerns about dental care

Anxiety about going to the dentist is common in seniors. Many have had bad experiences earlier in life with dental care because dentistry was not as advanced when they were growing up as it is now. For example, they may have had a tooth pulled with no freezing.

“A lot of seniors are anxious about receiving dentistry, and that’s understandable,” Dr. Mirsaeidi says. “Nowadays, dentistry is provided in ways that pain and anxiety should not be a part of it, at least 99% of the time.”

Today, a modern dental practice can offer various dental freezing and sedation options to provide a much more comfortable experience for the patient.

Some seniors may also be worried about their medications conflicting with their dental care. This is a highly valid concern, as some medicines can make the provision of dental care more difficult by causing bleeding, bruising, and dry mouth.

This means a lot of attention has to be paid to the patient’s medical background. There are solutions to these issues, but dentists must first be aware of the problems to be able to solve them.

“[We] obtain a very detailed medical history, and we keep all of that in our attention as we see the patient over and over again,” Dr. Mirsaeidi says. “And we consider those when providing dental treatments, and that’s particularly relevant to the senior age group.”

Cosmetic dentistry for seniors

Many people may want to see a dentist for cosmetic reasons. You can certainly achieve a nice smile through dental care, but it won’t happen immediately.

“A beautiful smile is the ultimate objective of dentistry, along with a functional smile,” Dr. Mirsaeidi says. “So for that, we always say that having that smile is definitely possible for everybody. It takes some commitment and time because there are steps to get there.”

Dentists must first ensure that the tooth in question is healthy before considering aesthetics so that you can keep that tooth for as long as possible. If you only focus on aesthetics and not tooth health, you could lose the tooth and have wasted your time and money.

Aesthetics are part of the later stages of a treatment plan formulated each time you see a dentist. They start by addressing emergencies, then rebuilding, and finally, the finishing touches, where aesthetics come in.

Treatment plans and affordability

As a patient, you should always get involved with your treatment plan. Try to understand each of the steps along the way and the end goal.

“If the patients are aware of the plan and if they see the end goal and the steps to that, they are more likely to keep at it because they see the end goal,” Dr. Mirsaeidi says. 

Many seniors may be concerned about how they will be able to access this treatment, as the most significant barrier to achieving the end goal of one such plan is cost. Fortunately, there are several options for support in covering costs for dental work for Ontario seniors.

The Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program provides free, routine dental care to low-income seniors aged 65 and older who meet specific income criteria and lack other dental benefits. 

Financial support for dental work is also available through the Ontario Disability Support Program, and Ontario Works recipients and their families may also have access to dental benefits through the program.

Furthermore, financial assistance for dental care for seniors is available under the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP), a federal program designed to help eligible seniors, children, and adults with disabilities access affordable oral healthcare.

A dentist’s advice for seniors

Seniors should try their best to keep their teeth as long as possible through regular dental checkups. Dentures are expensive and cost extra money for maintenance and replacement.

“Replacements break down, replacements require maintenance, nothing is as good as your own natural tooth, and the way to keep the costs low in maintaining your own dentition is through regular care.”

BIO

Dr. Kaveh Mirsaeidi is a dentist and formerly co-owned Soleil Dental Centre in Elliot Lake. He and his wife, Dr. Svitlana Mirsaeidi, the other co-owner of Soleil, have practiced dentistry all over northern Ontario before settling down and opening their practice in Elliot Lake. They believe in making dental care as quick and comfortable as possible by using advanced technology to cut down the lengthy process of developing dental prostheses and using sedation and freezing to eliminate as much pain as possible during care.