Dental Hygiene for the Dementia Patient

Dementia is one of the most significant public health issues today. The number of dementia patients is increasing, due to the rapid aging of the population, and a new Alzheimer’s Disease patient is diagnosed every 67 seconds. Most of these patients possess natural dentitions, and dental hygiene becomes vital to reduce the incidence of pain, infection and aspiration. There are multiple forms of dementia and each dementia patient requires an individualized treatment plan, which may change with each appointment as the disease progresses. Changes in behavior, medications, alertness, ability to cooperate and ability to perform oral hygiene all impact the success of a hygiene appointment. In addition, legal considerations of consent and behavior control become factors in treatment. Caregivers become a vital part of successful treatment and must be considered and included in appointments and oral hygiene instruction.

This course will discuss different forms of dementia, how to manage a dementia patient in each stage of dementia, and how to adjust oral hygiene instruction to maximize oral health though the progression of the disease. Most dementia patients that you will treat are simply patients in your practice who have developed dementia. It is important to have the tools to treat these patients successfully while minimizing stress to you, your patients, and their caregivers. By doing so, hygienists can greatly improve a dementia patient’s safety and quality of life.