It is believed that as a person gets older, it becomes more difficult for doctors to treat them. The body is no longer the same as in youth, there are many accompanying illnesses, so some claim that even a simple dental filling installation can cause a lot of problems for older patients. Dentist Vladimir Losev for aif.ru dispelled stereotypes surrounding elderly patients and explained the real situation.
Indeed, the mature age of patients and the complications associated with it are often considered complicating factors. However, these are not absolute complications, but ones that can be compensated for during treatment and proper adaptation. For example, absolute contraindications for dental implantation are anemia and tumors in the maxillofacial area. But these can occur at any age.
In other cases, when dealing with conditions like diabetes or osteoporosis, even if the patient is elderly, it does not hinder the treatment of dental problems if the appropriate medications are taken during the treatment period.
Alternative Treatment Options
It’s a different story if a patient needs dental implants when they have complete or near complete tooth loss. In this case, we do offer alternative treatment options. For instance, when 10 implants need to be placed requiring extensive bone grafting, we suggest 4 or 6 implants that can be placed without additional manipulations for bone or soft tissue augmentation. The decision is made on an individual basis, depending on the specialist’s assessment.
Restoration of Hard Tissues
A similar approach is taken in treating the restoration of hard tissues of remaining teeth. With advancing age, there is often significant atrophy of bone tissue, followed by soft tissue. As a result, achieving ideal aesthetics may be challenging as the shape and color of teeth are altered, requiring significant increases in lower facial third height or bite height—since significant wear occurs with age. However, once again, all these issues can be addressed, and essentially, contraindications related to any dental treatment are quite similar for everyone, regardless of age.
Yes, elderly individuals require more careful attention, but with consideration of objective questionnaire completion and collection of medical history, there are no specific indications solely related to age. Only specific treatment considerations.