Dentist can be very selective about their patients.
Dentist can be very selective on the patients they choose to care for. There is a larger and larger amount of aging patients that are in need of good dental care. However,
less and less dentists are willing to see older and aging patients. Some dentistry offices would like to care for the elderly, but don’t have the right skills or tools. The result: it is increasingly difficult for the elderly to get good dental care. However, finding a good dentist for yourself or the aging person in your life does not have to difficult.
Knowing the right kinds of questions to ask and having a general idea of the resources available to you and your loved one is the first step toward good dental care. With a little bit of research you should be able to find caring dentists that have specific knowledge in the field of geriatric dentistry.
First of all, when looking for a dentist to care for your teeth or for the teeth of a loved one, be prepared to ask a few questions to determine whether or not they have the right skills and tools available to them for elderly care. You may want to check recommendations and see if any of your friends or elderly acquaintances have a dentist with whom they are comfortable making appointments.
After you have scheduled a preliminary appointment with a dentist, come prepared to ask about insurance. You want to make sure that your dentist covers a variety of insurance types. Also, make sure you have done your research and have proper dental coverage. For example, some people do not realize that Medicare does not cover routine dental visits, only dentistry work that you have in a hospital setting.
Once you have found a dentist, you may want to check with their office to see if the doctor makes visits to nursing homes, assisted living campuses and house calls. Occasionally, you will find a dentist that is comfortable with this. Dentists that work with the elderly understand the necessity of on-site dental care for those patients who are homebound. It may help you feel even better about establishing a relationship with a dentist if you know that they are willing to visit nursing homes and assisted living situations.
As you or your elderly loved one may know, there are a number of ways to keep teeth healthy and stay out of the dentist’s chair. Good oral health is as important to the aging as it is to the younger population. For those that still have all or some of their natural teeth, it is necessary to keep-up with good brushing and flossing techniques. Make sure you understand all the side effects of the medication you are taking, especially as they relate to your oral health.
With some research you can learn the right questions to ask a dentist when trying to gauge whether or not they are willing to take on aging patients. Once you have determined the criteria necessary to finding out their comfort with the elderly, you can learn about your insurance coverage options as well as whether your dentist is willing to make house calls. Finding dentists who treat the aging doesn’t have to be difficult, it just takes a little extra effort.
