My husband will not clean his teeth properly, but neither will he let me do it. He uses an electric brush and will "scrub" his front teeth, but not very effectively. He never cleans the back of his teeth. They are in very poor condition and the front 2 look to me as if they might not last a lot longer. Is there anything available to help clean his teeth. He wouldn't be able to chew gum and spit it out. He'd probably swallow it. It does worry me, so any advice would be welcome.
Cleaning teeth
- Thread starter Emilypen
- Start date
My mum doesn’t brush her teeth at all. I wash her removable teeth as she takes them out every night but there is no way I can make her do the rest. I have accepted it.
Hello @Emilypen I have not had personal experience of this but the teeth cleaning issue is quite common as dementia progresses. Would you be able to help your husband to clean his teeth, would he let you help.
I have attached a couple of links which might be of use to you and hopefully other people who have had experience of this will come along with advice.
www.alzheimers.org.uk
www.alzheimers.org.uk
I have attached a couple of links which might be of use to you and hopefully other people who have had experience of this will come along with advice.
Dental and mouth care
Healthy teeth and gums are important to living well. For someone with dementia, taking care of their teeth and gums can become increasingly difficult.
www.alzheimers.org.uk
Supporting a person with dementia to keep a healthy mouth
Good mouth care isn’t just about brushing teeth twice a day. It’s also about eating well, drinking plenty of fluids, having regular check-ups at the dentist and looking out for signs of any problems developing.
www.alzheimers.org.uk
It's so difficult, isn't it? So many battles to fight, but this one seemed important. Hopefully someone else will post some useful advice for us.
Thank you SeaSwallow. No, my husband won't let me help. He just clamps his teeth together if I try. Thanks for the links. I'll check them out.Hello @Emilypen I have not had personal experience of this but the teeth cleaning issue is quite common as dementia progresses. Would you be able to help your husband to clean his teeth, would he let you help.
I have attached a couple of links which might be of use to you and hopefully other people who have had experience of this will come along with advice.
Dental and mouth care
Healthy teeth and gums are important to living well. For someone with dementia, taking care of their teeth and gums can become increasingly difficult.Supporting a person with dementia to keep a healthy mouth
Good mouth care isn’t just about brushing teeth twice a day. It’s also about eating well, drinking plenty of fluids, having regular check-ups at the dentist and looking out for signs of any problems developing.
My husband will still go to the dentist so I pay for a hygienist appointment for ‘clean descale and polish’ twice a year.
I've given up. Years of crunching rather than chewing hard food and an indifferent NHS dentist not doing preventive care, means my husbands teeth are going black and falling apart. In hospital Dementia ward for 8 weeks with a broken tooth, and I don't think he's cleaned his teeth once. Staff unconcerned, no dental department at hospital either. Care so appalling in hospital as he has Parkinsons and diabetes too, that I'm insisting he comes home rather than go into a nursing home either temporarily or permanently. I did far better at home. Plenty of clear liquids such as sugar free, non fizzy fruity water will now ensue. He used to refuse everything but coffee....
