Text/Yangcheng Evening News reporter Lin Qingqing Intern Liao Ximian Correspondent Liu Weijia

Oral health is closely linked to overall health. Is it normal for people to get old? Don't worry if your teeth don't hurt? People don't need to clean their teeth when they are old? A number of dental experts remind that from the current common oral problems of the elderly, it can be seen that there are still many misunderstandings in the elderly mouth protection.

Is it normal for people to get old? The real culprit behind it is periodontitis

Is it normal for people to get old? Find the real culprit behind it!

"Now many people in their 60s have less than 20 teeth left, and the 'real culprit' behind it is mostly because of periodontitis." Yu Lina, deputy chief physician of the Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, said that many people do not pay attention to periodontitis, and as a result, periodontitis develops, teeth begin to loosen, and many tooth roots are exposed, which is prone to oral damage such as rotten teeth and dental caries. In addition, many elderly people do not brush dentures after wearing dentures, and a lot of bacteria and fungi accumulate on dentures, and it is easy to produce mucosal diseases such as peeling of the corners of the mouth and oral fungal infections.

Yu Lina reminded that tooth loss caused by periodontitis should be repaired in time, and attention should be paid to standardized cleaning after restoration.

Don't worry if your teeth don't hurt? "Small problems" have a big impact

"During the free clinic, it was found that many elderly people tend to take missing teeth lightly." On September 9, at the 16th "National Love Teeth Day" on-site publicity event in Guangzhou, Zhi Qinghui, deputy chief physician of the Affiliated Stomatology Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, said that people often attach great importance to immediate pain, and it is easy to ignore or delay some oral problems that seem to be "small problems" but actually have long-term effects.

"In addition to periodontal disease, the free clinic also found that there were problems of wedge-shaped damage and poor quality of the restoration. Some elderly people lack teeth more severely, but the quality of the restoration of movable teeth and fixed bridges is not too high, and many elderly fixed bridges have been deformed due to too long time. Zhi Qinghui said that many elderly people do not pay attention to their oral health, think that they can use it, and wait until the toothache and loose teeth before going to the doctor, which is one of the common misunderstandings of the elderly. Dental problems such as calculus, receding gums, and rotten roots are often overlooked, but these are actually important causative factors in the development of periodontal disease.

People don't need to clean their teeth when they are old? Elderly patients with chronic diseases should pay more attention

Some chronic diseases can affect dental health, and the elderly are prone to delay due to lack of corresponding knowledge.

"Diabetics should go to periodontal care regularly." Que Guoying, chief physician of the Stomatology Hospital of Southern Medical University, reminded that diabetes and periodontitis affect each other, and some diabetic patients will have repeated periodontal abscesses, and periodontal abscesses will affect the treatment effect of diabetes. And if periodontitis is well controlled, it is also helpful to control blood sugar.

In addition, cracked teeth are an oral problem that is easily overlooked in the elderly group. Zhi Qinghui said that two cases of cracked teeth were seen during the half-day free clinic that day. "A lot of cracked teeth happen because of accidents. The elderly should pay attention not to bite particularly hard things in daily life, such as chicken bones, pig bones, etc. Zhi Qinghui reminded that some elderly people have missing teeth and swollen gums, but they do not know, so they need to do regular oral examinations and develop the habit of regular teeth viewing and cleaning. Regular tooth cleaning can remove periodontal soft scale and calculus and reduce the probability of periodontitis.

Usually pay attention to a balanced diet, drink more milk, eat eggs to supplement protein and calcium, eat more foods containing vitamin C, eat less carbonated drinks and sweets. Some elderly people have developed eating habits such as stir-frying and adding sugar over the years, and they should also pay attention to timely correction. (Yangcheng Evening News)