💛 What Caregivers Need to Know About Oral Health (AARP Article)

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💛 What Caregivers Need to Know About Oral Health (AARP Article)

FROM THE ARTICLE.

Discover effective ways to support good dental hygiene for care recipients, even when they have lost interest because of age or chronic disease.

By Paul Wynn, AARP. Published October 15, 2025.

Once meticulous about her personal hygiene, Julie Beaulieu’s mom is now missing several front teeth, and the ones that remain are worn to the gums, decayed and barely usable. Her mom, Irene, 79, who has Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia and lives in a nursing home, can no longer chew meat or harder vegetables and has begun to struggle with swallowing.

“As her mental health and cognition have worsened, she’s lost interest in bathing, changing clothes or caring for her teeth,” says Beaulieu, 55, who lives in Holyoke, Massachusetts. “The decline escalated sharply after Mom fractured her neck last summer and spent three and a half months in the hospital, where even the most basic dental care was barely happening."

USE LINK BELOW TO READ THE ARTICLE.

https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/medical/caregiving-dental-health/