Dental care

Cosmic

I haven't seen much here and need some suggestions/advice.

Wife is early-mid stage 7. she could use a good dental cleaning, lots of plaque. Brushes daily but breath is getting really bad. She cannot travel anymore and is at home. Hospice care.

M1

if she's not in pain, I would leave it alone. Very hard I know—my partner is stage 6 in MC and doesn't brush but maybe once a week. They have a dentist who comes and will see her on April 30—no dental care in over two years now.

fmb

DH is also in early Stage 7. I floss and brush his teeth 4x/wk when I visit. I also use a tongue scraper very gently and am careful to not gag him. By doing everything in exactly the same order each time and telling him what I'm doing, he is able to cooperate. He is still able to rinse without swallowing or aspirating. If your wife becomes unable to cooperate with brushing/rinsing, even using dental wipes on the teeth, gums and tongue can help remove the scum and bad breath. I would not put her through a dental cleaning, assuming that she would be able to cooperate for the amount of time it would take. I know my DH would not.

mommyandme (m&m)

I found a couple of traveling dentists/hygienists that would come to our home. Maybe there’s something like that in your area? We were never able to use it because mom left this earth a couple of weeks later.

GothicGremlin

I was able to get my sister to the dentist most of the way through stage 6 but it was a lot of work..

Once she hit stage 7, no matter how much help I had, we couldn't get her safely to a dentist. And by then I'm not sure she would have even understood what was going on. It could have gone poorly.

I never found a traveling dentist in our area like @mommyandme (m&m) did, but if there had been one I would have been willing to give it a try, but would have also been ready to end the cleaning if it looked like things were going to go south.

Cosmic

Thank you all for the comments. I guess the best course is what we're dong now. Once she gets the brush in her hand memory still kicks in somewhat. she brushes but then doesn't know how to spit, rinse etc. so i have to fill a 3oz disposable cup and put it in her hand and then she will swish and spit but doesn't know what to do after so I clean her up.

sunnydove

Even if your LO looks like they are brushing their teeth, they probably are not doing a very good job. I took over brushing and flossing my mom's teeth toward the end of stage 5. She was getting cavities and had to have some teeth pulled even with me having her brush every morning and night. I finally realized she looks like she knows what she's doing, but obviously not doing a good job. So I started doing it. I also have her use a dry mouth rinse (used to have her rinse and spit, now I spray it in her mouth so she doesn't swallow since she can no longer follow directions) which helps keep her breath fresher but more importantly, helps keep her mouth from getting too dry which can cause tooth decay.

BassetHoundAnn

My mom's dentist suggested that she have 5 teeth pulled. We had one pulled because of deep decay and discomfort, but it was horrible for her. She kept freaking out because she could not remember where she was or what was going on. She was in late Stage 5 at the time. There was one more dental visit after that because of a cracked, broken tooth. But after that I gave up on dental visits. They were too hard on her. And it became nearly impossible to get her safely from the memory care to the dental office. Her last dental visit was 3 years ago. She hasn't reported any tooth pain. Her teeth are brushed by aids at the memory care, but probably not very well.