Dental Treatment for Alzheimer's Patients

Ask your dentist to give your Mom a Rx fluoride (PreviDent Gel) toothpaste and a periodontal toothbrush for home use. Fluoride give good coverage for cavities when limited brushing is the only option possible and the toothbrush is very soft and soothing on the mouth.

Wow, what a devoted daughter you are. Taking such good care of your mom. When it becomes difficult to chew, you can grind up the food in a food processor - about 1/3 meat, and 2/3'rds vegetables, and add a little liquid. They can almost drink it. If she says it has no flavor, hand her a bottle of 'gravy' - chocolate syrup. Although it seems gross to us, the taste of sweet is the last to go. This will also give her more liquids to make BM's easier. Seniors get so dehydrated, their BM's become rock hard.

Very helpful. I was just reaching the point of deciding how to handle an upcoming appointment for my Mom.

You have a Great Big Heart and Love for your mother. I find that if I take my mom out into the sunshine while I am outdoors. It makes her and I into better feelings and shape in this colder weather. God Bless.

What about the fact that you never know when you go into the room what you are going to find. My mother, 93, has been living with me, 67, for four years. She likes to stay in her room because it is warmer there (a dish radiator) and she feels safe there. Recently my brother came to visit. When he left my mother and I sat in the living room for a few minutes and I said, shall we go to your room and watch TV? She said, "My room? Do I have a room here?" By the time we got to the door of her room she said, "Oh, now I remember." Sometimes when I enter the room she will have been waiting for me to show her where the bathroom is, as she forgot. It didn't occur to her to look out the door of her room and she would see it. She is down to 86 pounds because she won't eat. Tonight she picked apart all the vegetables and meat in a plate of stew, but won't eat any of it because "my mouth is sore, I can't eat it." But when I replaced her plate with a cupcake she at the whole thing. She loves sweets. My daughter says that is the last taste to go. Sometimes she will tell me about her daughter. She forgets that I am her daughter, but if I remind her she pretends that of course she knew that. When we watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, she might get a string of answers right in each program. Figure that one out! Then she has to name off her sisters and brothers (all 7) on her fingers and isn't sure about them. When she wakes up she might ask for her mother, ask why she is here, how long she has been here, why can't she go home, or she might just pull the covers over her head. That's when we have to have a long talk and eventually she comes out of it. What difference does it make what stage you call it? That doesn't change anything. I have to tell her to put her teeth in a cup and then brush them for her. She says, "You don't have to do that, I do that every day." But if I don't, she won't and her mouth will get sore. Every few days I have to digitally evacuate her because in spite of medication and prune juice, there is no other way, the muscles down there just don't do the job. There is no caretaker who is going to do that for my mom. I buy rubber gloves in bulk. The doctor is no help. I end up having to educate the doctor about these things. Well, thanks for listening. There's no one else I can say these things to. How's your mother? She's fine (smile).