Dental Hygiene Principles Lesson 1 Flashcards

Flashcards on Dental Hygiene for Older Adults

Care Principle

C= comfort, A = acceptance, R= responsiveness, E= empathy; applied to all verbal exchanges

Early Adulthood

Establishing independence, learning to live with a marriage partner, starting a family, bringing up young children, managing a home, getting started in an occupation, taking on civic responsibilities, finding a congenial social group

Middle Age

Achieving adulthood and social responsibilities, establishing and maintaining an economic standard of living, assisting one’s children to become adults, developing durable leisure-time activities, relating to one’s partner, accepting and adjusting to physical change, adjusting to one’s aging parent

Late Maturity

Adjusting to decreasing physical strength and to death, adjusting to retirement and to reduced income, adjusting to death of one’s partner, establishing an explicit affiliation with one’s age group, meeting social and civic obligations, establishing satisfactory physical living arrangements in light of physical infirmities

Life span

The maximal length of life potentially possible in a species (human 110-120 years)

Life expectancy

The average number of years lived by any group of individuals born in the same period

Geriatrics

The branch of medicine concerned with the illnesses of old age and their treatment

Gerontology

The scientific study of the factors affecting the normal aging process and the effects of aging

Chronologic age

Age as measured by calendar time since birth

Functional age

Performance capacities

Chronic Xerostomia

Address pH balance of the oral cavity with rinses like water, fluoride mouth rinse, baking soda solution, or milk

Xerostomia

Diminished salivary flow that alters taste, bacterial plaque formation, caries formation, and causes dry, inflamed oral tissue

Age-related oral changes

Alterations of the structures of the body that are not a result of the disease process like enamel, cementum, dentin, pulp

Disease-induced oral changes

Often manifest oral changes and pathology that is independent of the aging process.

Age-Related Periodontal Changes

Increased alveolar bone porosity, thinning of the epithelium, diminished keratinization, and increased cellular density

Drug induced Gingival Enlargement

Associated with Anticonvulsant medications, Cardiovascular drugs, Immunosuppressants

Aggressive tx and control of periodontal disease in older adults

Shorter recare

WHO key points

High prevalence of periodontal disease, xerostomia, oral precancer/cancer among elderly

Sublingual varicosities

Deep red or bluish-black dilated vessels on the tongue