Physiologic and psychologic understanding and consideration in the treatment of geriatric edentolous patients – a review

Perfect health has been the goal of mankind throughout all ages. It must be understood that there can be no separation between good bodily health and good dental health. A diseased body often produces a diseased mouth inturn, a diseased mouth may often lead to a diseased body. Great majority of people have a heritage of good health, many destroy this priceless possession by failure to properly care for their bodies. Much of this neglect is due to a lack of knowledge of the best way to care for this complicated and wonderful machine. This is more so amongst the older age group of individuals. The care of dental problems of the senior citizens assumes an increasing proportion of the time of health care-takers. Dentistry for elderly must be practiced with increased awareness of the biologic factors, since the adaptive mechanism and tissue regenerative potentials of the elderly patients are usually significantly lowered