Managing Edentate Older Adults

Whilst increasing numbers of older people retain natural teeth, a sizable proportion of older people are still edentate. Replacement of missing teeth is important for function, aesthetics and to facilitate social interactions. The process of providing oral rehabilitation for edentate older adults can be challenging, but clinicians can utilise a number of treatment options including removable or implant retained prostheses. In this article, complete denture construction will be described using both conventional and copy denture techniques. Recent innovations in the process for constructing complete dentures using computer aided design and manufacturing (CAD-CAM) techniques will also be discussed. Dental implants can be used to help retain removable complete prostheses for edentate patients and the use of implant-retained overdentures is presented as a treatment alternative.