You know him the best and if you've been keeping up with his health issues, then you will need to assess if his complaint is sufficient to warranty action or not.
For a toothache, I would do "wait and see" if he keeps complaining about the pain. The problem with dental issues is getting him to cooperate while in the dental chair. A dentist can see the problem on inspection or by X-ray. So it's very diagnosable. Yesterday my 94-yr old Mom told me that one of the two caps of her front upper teeth had "slipped down". I looked at the top by the gum and didn't see any gap or change. I think she looked at it in the mirror and forgot that one of the 2 teeth was lower than the other normally and she forgot this and interpreted this as it having moved. If she keeps on about it, I will take a picture of the gums with my phone, blow it up so she can clearly see there's no change. It may or may not convince her. If not, I will use redirection of conversation to move off that topic.
A stomach ache is also a very common problem that could be just something he ate, constipation, etc. But sometimes it can be a sign of a gallbladder problem. Again, you have to wait to see if he consistently complains of the same problem, or shows other symptoms (like a fever with the stomach ache, and tenderness to the touch in that area, which would indicate an infection that would require immediate attention).
Dementia changes how a person is able to process bodily signals like pain, so it's tricky for sure.
Acknowledge it, then offer to give him over the counter medications to help if he wants, and then if it continues on for days, take him to the doctor. Or you can try redirecting him onto something else. For example.....husband..my stomach is really hurting. Wife...Oh I'm sorry Honey, would like a little ice-cream now or do you want to wait until later?
With my mom we would take her to the doctor once and check out the complaint if is valid awesome, if not next time we just monitor it. Thankfully her complaints were valid for the most part.
For a toothache, I would do "wait and see" if he keeps complaining about the pain. The problem with dental issues is getting him to cooperate while in the dental chair. A dentist can see the problem on inspection or by X-ray. So it's very diagnosable. Yesterday my 94-yr old Mom told me that one of the two caps of her front upper teeth had "slipped down". I looked at the top by the gum and didn't see any gap or change. I think she looked at it in the mirror and forgot that one of the 2 teeth was lower than the other normally and she forgot this and interpreted this as it having moved. If she keeps on about it, I will take a picture of the gums with my phone, blow it up so she can clearly see there's no change. It may or may not convince her. If not, I will use redirection of conversation to move off that topic.
A stomach ache is also a very common problem that could be just something he ate, constipation, etc. But sometimes it can be a sign of a gallbladder problem. Again, you have to wait to see if he consistently complains of the same problem, or shows other symptoms (like a fever with the stomach ache, and tenderness to the touch in that area, which would indicate an infection that would require immediate attention).
Dementia changes how a person is able to process bodily signals like pain, so it's tricky for sure.
Or you can try redirecting him onto something else. For example.....husband..my stomach is really hurting. Wife...Oh I'm sorry Honey, would like a little ice-cream now or do you want to wait until later?