Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a debilitating and progressive disease that can affect dental practice in a number of ways. Not only will increasing numbers of AD patients be treated by dentists in the future but the dentist and members of his family may also be unfortunate enough to become affected. In the United Kingdom, nearly 10% of the population over 65 years of age, and more than 20% of those over 80 years develop progressive deterioration of memory, resulting in a breakdown of intellectual capacity and personality. More than half of those are suffering from AD. The purpose of this review is to describe the aetiology and behavioural aspects of this distressing disease and to highlight some problems that the dentist may encounter when treating those patients.