2 MCE Credits
The geriatric community is underserved; especially those patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, or who are otherwise homebound, in residential care or assisted living communities. Through house call dentistry, clinicians provide dental care when, where and how it meets the individual patient’s needs. Learn what you need to know and what you need to do to provide convenient, safe dental care for patients in the comfort of their home environments. Explore the early signs of dementia versus manifestations of normal aging. Illuminate the bidirectional relationship between periodontal disease and Alzheimer’s disease, including how proper oral hygiene may lessen Alzheimer’s symptoms, as well as slow down the progress of this disease. Discover the flexibility of virtual technology (teledentistry) in conducting remote, problem-focused evaluations. Recognize the inherent communication challenges and tips for honing verbal skills. Identify the essential records and documentation to keep in the patient’s record. Feel good about providing the best oral care to ensure your patient is comfortable, they can eat, swallow, and feel good about smiling.
Learning Objectives:
• Identify and explore the challenges of aging.
• Recognize the various types of dementia, how each type physically manifests, and the associated oral hygiene care challenges and oral health issues.
• Discover the role that periodontitis plays in dementia’s progression.
• Develop enhanced communication techniques to increase patient cooperation.
• Learn how to use technology to assess patients’ conditions via images.
• Specify the appropriate documentation for the patient’s record.
• Explore the pharmacologic treatment and cognitive enhancers approved for Alzheimer disease and drugs that can make dementia worse.
• Discuss the roles and responsibilities of the emergency contact, custodial parent, and joint custody, and their legal authority to act on the patient’s behalf.
• Recognize the legal differences between emergency contacts, durable and general powers of attorney.
• Gain strategies for working in partnership with referring dentists, primary care physicians, caregivers and families to determine the best treatment for each patient.
