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jimnclare Asked August 2019

What is reasonable dental care for my 81 yo wife with Parkinson Plus PSP?

Clare is in assisted living and unable to walk. The dentist this morning said she needs four crowns on her lower teeth. She has a full upper denture. Cost is over $4,000. Does it make sense to do this with her age and condition? Would a full denture make more sense, even though the cost might be higher?

NeedHelpWithMom Aug 2019
Windy,

Makes sense to me.

lealonnie1 Aug 2019
A lower denture is a horse of another color..........an upper denture is a cake walk by comparison! So, when a person winds up with both, chewing becomes a whole new adventure, and not a good one. If you can possibly prevent your DW from getting a lower denture, by all means do it. Even if it means leaving just the lower few front teeth so the dentist can create a partial plate for her, she'll be better off than going with a full lower plate. I will say, however, that a lower partial plate took me FOREVER to get used to, just a warning. With my 92 y/o mother, we just have the dentist pull the problem teeth because she refuses to put herself through the physical or financial pain of crowns, root canals or drilling of any kind. I love what Windyridge was able to accomplish with her mom! Brilliant idea
Best of luck!!

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Windyridge Aug 2019
Jim, my mom was 85 with a multitude of health, mobility problems and slight dementia. Her assisted living place sent here to a local dental mill who wanted to pull all her remaining teeth, then have her fitted for a full set of dentures.

Inwas able to find her old dentist who knew her well. He ground off some rough spots that were bothering her and put a little filling material in a couple places. It was an easy process and made her comfortable for the last year of her life instead of putting her through the trauma of oral surgery and dentures.

But that’s just one story. Your wife may well need the procedures recommended. But I do think we need to keep dental procedures to a minimum with elders.

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