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WhereismyMom Asked August 2012

Anyone have experience on getting an elder parent to let them remove full dental implants for cleaning - she can't remember how?

Mom gets very agitated and says what I am doing is wrong when I work to get her to remove the implants - it's a full plate on top and gets a ton of food stuck behind it. I am afraid she will get an infection in her mouth. She used to take them out every night, but this week the skill is gone - she clenches her teeth, making it nearly impossible for me to do it either. I managed it last night and got her super annoyed with me. Help!

WhereismyMom Aug 2012
I'll check the sites - thanks. And yes she has titanium rods impanted in her jaws and dentures that snap into them. You can have both - that's why it takes a bit more finesse to pop them out of her mouth. WIll definitely be checking online ;-)

carefriend Aug 2012
I went to the above-mentioned website and got some great advice on removing dentures from the mouth of a person with dementia. Unfortunately, most of it was directed towards people who can and will follow directions, even simple ones. Some patients can't and some patients won't follow directions. If your loved one is capable of following simple directions and is compliant most of the time, go online and get the instructions. Good luck. This is a hard one.

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N1K2R3 Aug 2012
You are mixing up the words, Implants and Dentures. A dental implant is not removable. It's implanted with a titanium rod drilled through the bone that supports the teeth, yes right down into the jaw bone.
Dentures, on the other hand are removable. Check with the dentist or denturist who arranged for the dentures to be set.
Hopefully no infection has set in....yet.

Carol72156 Aug 2012
There's actually places online with instructions on how to remove full and partial dentures. I had the same problem with my mother. Neither one of us could do it and I figured I google everything else ...

I typed up the basic instructions in large print for her. Mom has intermittent dementia (or at least I intermittently notice it), so I had no idea if it would work or not. It may have been a coincidence but starting fresh, the next day, she read the instructions and was able to take them out all by herself.

carefriend Aug 2012
Have you asked your dentist for suggestions? We just make attempts all during the day to get those teeth out and brushed. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. I have been bitten myself, so I always wear two gloves and try to protect my hand with a clean wash cloth. They come out fairly easily; and yes, she is annoyed. Her annoyed attitude doesn't last, but it takes me a while longer. I just keep reminding myself that I am helping her do what she would have done herself if she wasn't ill.

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