We make sure that our children and ourselves brush our teeth everyday and get dental checkups twice a year, but what about our geriatric parents living in nursing homes? Senior citizens living in a nursing home setting have traditionally been an underserved segment of our population in terms of oral health care. We would like to use this opportunity to highlight some of the challenges that our seniors are facing and some possible solutions. Our elderly parents face unique challenges in maintaining proper oral hygiene due to physical and/or mental disabilities that often come with old age.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) can be found in every segment of population, even in children. One distinction to be made is that OSA in adults can only be managed, not cured. However, OSA in children can be cured. Consequence of airway obstruction is reduced oxygen available for the body. Oxygen deprivation is especially critical for the rapidly growing body and brain.

By: Dr. Lewis Yu, DMD- All About Smiles, P.A., North Wilmington and Pike Creek, DE

Do you suffer from headaches, neck or back discomfort, jaw pain when chewing or numbness and tingling sensation in your arms and fingers? You probably have tolerated these symptoms for years, by taking over-the-counter medications or seeing various health care professionals in search of relief of your symptoms.