 Hello, hello, Andrea Mayesca here with Dental L Mobile Hygiene, so I've been getting a lot of questions about Seniors so seniors and what do I do when I go to nursing homes and clean their teeth? So I've been getting a lot of questions actually from dental assistants and other dental hygienists who actually want to work with me But the question always is well, what do you do? Do you just go in and clean their teeth? What if they don't have teeth? What if they have a full set of dentures? Then what do you do? Well, even if somebody's 85 or 95 it doesn't matter cleaning somebody's teeth is a Need, you know, it's just something that has to be done You know just because somebody's 95 it doesn't mean you don't make sure they're as clean as possible You wouldn't say to them well I'm not going to give you a shower today because you're 95, you know, you know like who cares? You're not going to do that and I talk about teeth cleaning and Something as simple as taking a shower as the same thing. You always have to be cleaning your you know cells and Cleaning your teeth also. So even if you're 95 It's still so important for them to have their teeth cleaned and there's a couple of reasons why The main thing is that if they don't get their teeth cleaned that plaque That tartar can sit there and that can make them a lot Sicker than they already are because plaque harbors a lot of bacteria and nurses and nursing homes Just don't have the time unfortunately to sit there and Clean somebody's teeth, especially a senior who might not like it and is pushing them away Telling them no leave me alone because they have their moods, you know depending, right? They might not have time to come back and try again later So oftentimes which again is so sad, but seniors teeth their oral health are not taken care of so that's where I come in I come in to at least make sure Hopefully at least every three months they are having their teeth cleaned because it's not being looked at every day Imagine in your teeth if you didn't touch them for three months imagine how much would be there your teeth Your gums around the teeth would be in so much pain because there's so much plaque and there's so much tartar So your senior, you know person your mom dad Whoever they might be in pain, but they might not know why they might not be able to tell you well My mouth hurts or or my tooth hurts and quite often It's because there's just so much plaque so much tartar that it's starting to eat away even through the tooth So I like to go in to make sure that their teeth is night, you know are Nice and clean plus it's nice to be able to talk to them so that they can you know Look forward to seeing me It's somebody to talk to because oftentimes as well, you know They're care they're Caregivers their mom dad sister brother whoever Doesn't have time to see them all the time if they live out of town They might get a visit once a month maybe twice a month Whereas at least I'm another person that that they can look forward to seeing so I you know talk to them We we do have a nice a nice time Half the time they even fall a cheat fall asleep in the chair when I'm cleaning their teeth So that means they must be pretty comfortable, right? But I do like to make sure that their teeth are nice and clean Plus sorry I just had something on my lip there Plus if you know if I come in even every three months if things just still don't look good There's so much plaque so much tartar every time I come in then I like to see them every month So a little bit at a time every single month. So at least I am able to get in there So I I am I clean their teeth I polish them everything to get them as clean and as healthy as possible and sometimes even as I'm cleaning There's so much plaque that I see a cavity under the plaque And then I'll mention that to the nurses and say I'm pretty sure they do now have a cavity So I suggest you bring a dentist to come in to you know Take care of that, you know, because they can easily fix a cavity But they wouldn't have known they had a cavity because the plaque Was laying over top and it was so thick That patient could be in pain because the more a cavity eats away It can hit the nerves and that causes pain So you don't want to just leave them alone. Think well, they're 85 95. They'll be fine No, they won't be fine because at Harvard like plaque just Harvard so much bacteria the things that I see would shock you You know inside the mouth you need to keep it as clean as possible. It's a lot harder When somebody's in a nursing home, but that's why I'm here to help and they just like seeing somebody, you know Talking to somebody it just makes a big big difference Even if they don't have a lot of teeth left You want to keep those teeth healthy because if those teeth get infected if the gums around the teeth get Infected that's a lot of pain and then you have to try to talk to that senior patient and say I know you're in pain But now we have to take the tooth out because the gums just looks so bad It's a lot easier for them to have the teeth clean to have the teeth maintained then to say, okay Your teeth look horrible. We need to pull them all, you know, like that would be that would be horrible So you don't want to do that so a lot of people think like okay, I'm not I'm not really sure like what to do My mom doesn't have a lot of teeth left. Should she still have her teeth cleaned? Yes, but the good news is that it shouldn't take me as long so it costs even less It depends on the person some people have so much plaque even on three or four teeth Where it takes me the same amount of time. It depends on the patient too, you know If they're not having a good day might take them some time to get used to me But it does just help everybody so much Everybody should have the teeth cleaned just to be as healthy as possible if that makes sense So let me guys know or let me know if you guys have any questions Thank you for watching and I'll see you guys in the next one