Are bidet toilets recommended?

Sorry - I'm going to interject my expertise here . .I'm a Realtor and remodel consultant.

A bidet is a separate bowl fixture and requires extra space and plumbing work.
Bidets are not common in the US.

What you may be referring to or would want to consider is to install a WASHLET. Sometimes referred to as a washlet bidet.

Washlets are glorifed toilet bowl seats that will help clean the nether regions without using your hands. They only require that a GFCI outlet be installed near the toilet you want to install on.

My husband and I use separate bathrooms and we each have a Washlet. When we did our major remodel we looked into bidets and discovered Washlets. Our bathrooms are small - Washlets are the perfect solution for limited spaces.

We love our washlets! So do our guests! And several of our friends have installed Washlets since they learned about ours. I can tell you that MY bottom health has improved tremendously because of it.

Anyway . . .just more info for anyone who wants to do the research.

My father had mid stage vascular dementia, hemorrhoids, and an absolute towering fear of a cold toilet seat. My brother and I purchased and installed a fancy bidet toilet seat that included a heated seat and heated water for the wash, but no dry option (don't think they had dry options then or maybe just too expensive). The "controls" were simple: an on/off button for the seat heater and a on/off lever for the wash water. There was a knob to adjust the wash water temperature and another to adjust the water pressure/force; we use them as set it and forget it. It did take a day or two to become accustomed but then Dad loved it! So much so he demanded it be moved to his MC bathroom.

If you are assisting or supervising the dementia patient with their toileting routine, I think a bidet seat would work for many because you can tell them what's coming. It's very difficult to change a life long routine in any dementia patient, so I would doubt your whether LO could develop an ability to use the bidet without prompting. The water temperature in the bidet seats without a heater is going to be room temperature down to your cold water temperature. In warmer areas, that may be warm enough. In colder climates, you may want a seat with a heater even though that's a harder install, usually requiring a ground fault detector circuit be added to the toilet area.

P.S. The bidet toilet seat is 1-3 inches so it also raises the height of toilet seat too.

I was living in Korea once, when I used a super complicated toilet with a ton of buttons. When I went to flush I must have pressed the bidet button by mistake and got a cold stream of water right where the sun don't shine. Scared me to death. I'd think a similar system would intimidate an elder with alzheimers.

I asked a question about bidets two weeks ago (January 18) entitled ‘information wanted for up-market bidets’. The thread has information that I found very useful, and some links – particularly to WikiHow. You might like to check the thread yourself. Yours, Margaret

A bidet seat - you mean one of those brilliant Japanese loos that do all the washing and rinsing and drying? I think they sound amazing, and lots of people seem to be very pleased with theirs.

As the person has Alzheimer's, you will need to make sure that s/he is guided through the process so that s/he doesn't jump out of her skin when it begins.

I have heard lots of people on this forum say that they are very pleased with a bidet.