My father was diagnosed with Alzheimers over a year ago. The disease progressed pretty quickly a year ago (he had a bad UTI) and he's not really able to understand a lot that is going on around him and make important decisions. That include his teeth. He's had bad teeth for years, and now it has come to a point where our usual dentist suggests that all his teeth get extracted and they put in dentures. This process takes weeks: 1. take a mold 2. take all molars out, then wait days/couple of weeks, 3. take another mold, 4. take all front teeth and put in the mold. Six months later, when the dentures are uncomfortable and the bone has mostly healed, another mold is taken and the dentures are adjusted. This process also includes us driving long distance from a small town to the city where the specialist is located. Last week our dentist sent us to the specialist that is involved in the case, the trip went fine but she said that my dad's teeth should not be removed, just those that are bad fixed individually and he should go regularly for cleaning (like every two months). She said that considering his status, it's better to maintain the ones he has than risking the process of removing them that could make him worse. Also, she said there's no guarantee that he'll accept the dentures. My biggest fear of not getting his teeth removed is the risk of infection and heart problems. It could take long time for us to notice something's wrong because apparently he doesn't feel much in his gums. I would love to get some feedback and experiences on issues like these that will help us take a decision on what to do.
I did that with my Dad's teeth, he had a couple pulled but those teeth were in the back. His dentist didn't recommend any bridges or dentures. My Dad was very lazy about brushing or flossing, so I couldn't picture him dealing with dentures.
My Mom had take-in take-out dentures [they would latch onto the real teeth she had] for most of her adult life and it was a royal pain to deal with. She never kept her dentures in to learn to get use to them. If she was going to eat something, she would put in her teeth, then after eating take them out, clean them, and put them in the denture cup until the next time she ate. Thus, she was constantly breaking the dentures because of taking them in and out 4 to 5 times a day. Constantly needing tweaking. So a lot of trips to and from the dentist. Thank goodness her dentist of 30+ years was a very patient man :)