What to Know about Personal Care at Home and Dental Hygiene

Maintaining personal hygiene, especially dental hygiene, becomes more and more important for seniors as they age. Dental routines help seniors to maintain their health, their confidence, and even their independence. At some point, having a little extra help managing dental hygiene becomes crucial and personal care at home can make these tasks easier for seniors to manage.

What Is Personal Care at Home?

Personal care at home is a type of help that keeps seniors clean, comfortable, and as healthy as possible overall. These types of tasks include bathing and showering, getting dressed, grooming, toileting, caring for skin, and even caring for oral health. It can be embarrassing for seniors to need help with these tasks, but caregivers who help with personal care do everything that they can to preserve seniors’ dignity and to promote independence.

Dental Hygiene for Seniors

Dental hygiene gets overlooked by many people, including older adults, but it plays a critical role in overall health and well-being for seniors. Poor oral health can lead to a variety of health issues for seniors, including gum disease and tooth decay. Health issues like diabetes and heart disease can also be worsened by poor oral health.

Brushing and Flossing

Just as they do at other stages of life, seniors need to brush and floss their teeth twice a day. Many different issues, like loss of hand strength, can cause seniors to have trouble with these tasks, however. That’s why having help from home care providers to keep teeth brushed and flossed can be so important.

Denture Care

Seniors who have dentures aren’t exempt from keeping them clean. Denture care is just as important as caring for natural teeth. Elder care providers can help seniors to ensure that dentures are cleaned regularly and that they’re stored properly when they are not in use. If dentures are not fitting properly or are causing sores in the mouth, it’s vital for seniors to visit their dentists to have things checked out.

Healthy Eating Habits

Eating a healthy diet also helps with dental hygiene and overall health. Seniors may need help with preparing healthy meals and even with eating those meals on a regular basis. This is something that personal care at home can make easier for aging adults. They can also offer companionship during meals, which is something that can help seniors to feel more comfortable while they’re eating.

Regular Dental Checkups

All seniors need to regularly visit their dentists, even if they think they don’t have to. These regular dental checkups help seniors to stay on top of possible oral health concerns and get any issues addressed quickly. Home care providers can help seniors to get to their dental appointments, especially if driving is more difficult now.

Dental hygiene isn’t something that seniors can ignore, especially if they want to prolong their lives and happily age in place. Personal care at home can help them to have any assistance they need keeping up with proper dental hygiene and good oral health.

If you or an aging loved one is considering personal care at home in Lodi, CA, please contact the caring staff at Provident Care Home Care today at (209) 578-1210.