Dental advice; Does anyone have experience with having their loved ones have to get false teeth?

Ditto to everything MargaretMcKen wrote. Could partials & bridges also be lost or be considered a choking hazard? Implants are covered by no one. If your LO has bone loss due to neglect, he won't be able to have dentures. With my MIL we just had dentist fix her broken and chipped teeth as best we could so that she wasn't in pain and it didn't look dreadful (done through Medicaid). It would be too stressful a process for her to do anything more. FYI because of seeing first hand the challenges of failing teeth and limited options in senior years, I've decided to replace my caps and crowns with implants. Very expensive but in the future will be one less part of my body that requires time, money and attention. Hopefully.

Thanks so much!

The up-side of a good set of false teeth is obvious. The down-sides are more common. For my friends and relations, they have included:
1) Having all the remaining teeth extracted. Alternatively, keeping some teeth and having implants or bridging between them. All of this means a long time with your mouth open in a dentists’ chair, probably many times, and at least some unavoidable pain. Some people don’t cope well, even when sedated.
2) Going without any teeth for a couple of weeks to give the gums time to heal and adjust, while you look like a parrot and feel dreadful.
3) Difficulty keeping the dentures in place, and/or discomfort. The top ones are hard to keep up. People often don’t like to wear them and take them out.
4) Losing them. Take them out overnight, wrap them in a tissue, and they end up in the bin by mistake. Or in the washing machine and dryer, and they don't cope well. Do you start again? How many times?
5) Needing new ones when your gums shrink, with age or through continuing to adjust after the teeth go. More trips to the dentist, more time with your mouth open while they take molds of your gums.
6) Difficult habits. My FIL used to push his upper set in and just out of his mouth repeatedly, and it looked dreadful.
7) Kicking yourself when the move to pureed food seems to start just as MIL has finally got used to them.
8) $$$. My husband’s last set cost $1000 and he didn’t like them as much as the old ones. My dental work for one implant was over $1000, and I’d never bother again. The medical insurance covered some, but not that much. Thankfully we didn’t exceed the maximum claim in a year, or we would have paid much more. Extractions plus dentures would probably have been over the limit.

It might still be worth it. My husband had a lousy set of teeth (his mother fed him a solid sugar diet), all extracted in his early 20s. A set of dentures lasts him about 20 years, and he is quite satisfied to have them. But it might be very difficult to go through the process with an older person with dementia. Think about it carefully. Best wishes, Margaret

My Dad has terrible teeth. Many have broken off and he has a hard time chewing. I think he only has teeth to chew on one side of his mouth.

I asked him a week or so ago if he had considered dentures or a partial, he seemed surprised at the suggestion and said no. I am not going to pursue it.

Dad does not have dementia.

Your profile says that your father has dementia. I'd consult with a dentist who has experience treating patients who have dementia. From what I learned when my LO was in the MC, residents who had dentures really had a tough time using them, due to forgetting they wore them, removing them and losing them, refusing to open mouth so they could be put in their mouth, etc. So, it comes with some issues. We chose to extract some of my LO's teeth and keep as many as possible, which worked out fine. I'd ask about a more conservative approach and even get a second opinion, as recommendations can vary with dentists, based on my experience.

You might check with Medicaid. (not Medicare) In my state they do cover certain costs for dental care.