The older adult population tends to grow steadily in the coming years and oral health professional must be prepared to appear before this age.
Statistics show the trend of growth of the population of elderly in the world. Brazil, or 2010 census points to the “ageing society”. But it is not by chance that this event is happening. For Dr. Augusto Roque Neto *, specialist in restorative dentistry and master’s degree in dentistry clinic, Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Sao Paulo – FOUSP, better living conditions, hygiene and health offer this reality, which requires a specific movement of all walks of life to meet the new demand.
In dentistry, geriatric oral health is an emerging discipline, in force since 2002. “Basically, that has everything to do”, said Dr. Augustus. Therefore, studies and exchange of experiences is of fundamental importance in the development of the specialty.
The professional must take into account that the geriatric oral health is a multi-disciplinary discipline. This requires that the raw materials are reviewed and is well understood. One must not only worry about those dealing with the technique. Contacts with other professions such as medicine, occupational therapy, nursing should be encouraged. The creation of study groups is also important for a profession to understand and emulate the results obtained in association. Formed dentists should seek courses, conferences and the experience to guide and adapt.
With the expectation of an increase in the age of the patients, that previously it was limited to substitution treatment with artificial elements also lost to be more multidisciplinary in character. “Many patients have teeth and, in general, to maintain, so that now almost all forms of treatment and the experience is sought,” Dr. explicou. Augustus.
It is not uncommon to see a patient more than 70 years the use of keys or make use of implants to replace missing elements. Whitening also has a great demand, mainly during the end of the year, graduation, marriage and the family ceremonies, mainly because of summer. “Aesthetic restorations or metal restorations-exchange resins is a very common element in our offices,” it reported. The fact is that these attitudes give a healthier appearance for older persons.
In his experience, Dr. Augusto warned that the elderly patient has a meaning very large of what you want. He cited a study of this year of the completion of the course, conducted by student Vanessa Aran, from the Methodist University of Sao Paulo, where the largest dentist of the patient’s complaint was trying to impose the type of treatment, which often do not correspond with the anxieties of the elderly.
Given this situation, specialist in geriatric dentistry courses encourage not only professionals, to understand and improve care for the elderly and introduces the need to involve and empower contacts multi-, exercise, and the discovery of new languages for the patient care, which leads to a better end result.
“” The geriatric patient often makes use of a polifarmacia, with a number of drugs in their day to day, with possible repercussions on the mouth, then contact the Geriatrics help professionals to find a way best suited to meet these challenges, he said.”An anxiolytic, for example, can decrease the amount of saliva of the patient. The dentist must be aware of the details as this and discuss with other professionals that approach should be adopted in this particular case “.”
Often, the indication of a drug the patient forgets that there is a decrease in the elimination, leaving the patient one plasma level higher than expected. Then, a good relationship with medical knowledge and depth of the drug ingested by the client and its mode of action and the elimination is essential for a good service.
“A good relationship with the Geriatrics, always strengthened and encouraged in all courses of extension and specialization”, Associate Professor emphasizing the disciplines of dental anatomy and occlusion; Restaurateur me dentistry and the Methodist University of São Paulo – UMESP, Dr. II. Augusto NET Roque.
The service
In general, the elderly patient has much more interest, need and this information should be taken into account when the service. The visits to the clinic should be shorter, because the elderly may often have physical limitations. However, practitioners must increase a little more between the visits of the requirement that the patient has to express.
