Dentistry

Dementia and Denture

Dementia, one of the main causes of disability later in life, is a progressive, neurodegenerative disease that affects the capacity to conduct daily living activities. It results in a decline in multiple areas of function, including memory, communication and reasoning skills and includes psychological symptoms such as depression, psychosis, and aggression. Dementia is a disease of progression and is categorized into three different stages, those being early, middle (moderate) and later (severe) stages of dementia. When designing a plan of care for a patient with dementia, it is important to understand the stage of the disease. Patients with dementia can lose teeth though it is not clear if the risk, rate of tooth loss or prevalence varies for those with dementia compared to those without.