[Dental care of aging patients]

Our examination of elderly and ageing patients presented four essential classifications, including those with: 1. sufficient natural dentition; 2. dentition, with numerous missing teeth, in need of functional restoration; 3. groups of teeth remaining, but on the verge of edentulousness; 4. edentulousness with dentures in need or replacement or improvement. For the above, we recommend the following treatments, respectively: 1) prophylactic topical fluoride treatments with custom trays; 2) extendable hybrid constructions--preferably with the implementation of a telescoping design; 3) partial dentures designed for easy extension; 4) no new dentures, but rather the step-by-step correction of the old dentures.