My mother is 102 and frail. Her last upper teeth have broken off. Any advice on what to do?

Mom mom just passed but I went through this just a couple months ago. Her AL sent her to a local dentist, a franchise mill type place. They wanted to extract her last 10 teeth and then go get fitted for dentures. It was ridiculous. No way I was going to allow that.

I was able to get hold of her old dentist. AL transported her there. He spent 10 minutes fixing some sharp edges. Don’t put this poor lady through unneeded procedures.

I don't think I would do anything other than ensuring there are no sharp edges and a risk of infection is minimized. Unfortunately this happens a lot in the very old, get a couple of different dentists to advise you and pick the least invasive approach. She couldn't have been chewing too much with only two teeth anyway so she will probably manage soft foods and ground meats just fine with none.

I agree with just smoothing sharp edges. My mom lived to 88 and where her teeth had broken off, it looked terrible. Her dentist said they were fine and not infected. At that age, you just do comfort care and you don't try to fix major things. If you have a personal dentist, ask for a recommendation for someone good with seniors. That's what I did and found a great dentist for mom.

Carclo, unfortunately at your Mom's age she wouldn't be a good candidate for the type of teeth that are screwed into the jaw.... mainly because her jaw bone probably has thinned to a point where it would be impossible to place screws.

My sig other had several teeth replaced with screws and new teeth, and it took 6 months to complete. I know ads say new teeth in one day, that doesn't make any sense as the jaw bone need to regenerate around the screws and that takes months. Sig other is in his early 70's and the dentist needed to use cadaver bone to fill in the thinning places.

How is Mom eating now? If she is able to chew with what is left of her upper teeth, then just have the dentist check to make sure the broken teeth don't have any sharp edges. The dentist might do x-rays to make sure no infections are starting.