Oral Health & The Elderly:
"Live Long & Prosper"*

There are now 70,000 Americans that are over 100 years old --and counting. By 2050, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the number of centenarians at 834,000 and the bureau's "high-end" calculation predicts the figure could climb as high as 4.2 million! According to the latest U.S. census, in 2011, there are thirty-nine million Americans already over sixty-five, and by 2012, America's 50 and older population will reach 100 million.**

Youthful aging through your 80's can become almost routine and even in our over-85 age group, the possibilities toward more active life styles are readily available. While keeping one's own natural teeth has obvious physchological and nutritional benefits, on a national level, elderly oral-health-care in America is in a precarious state.

During a forum before the U.S. Senate Special Committee for the Aging, "Oral Health America" reported that in fourteen states, eighty percent of the seniors had no private insurance coverage. For the elderly, this is only one alarming issue, given the fact that Medicare has never provided them even routine dental care...