[Whether or not to remove root remnants in frail older adults?]

Many frail older adults have a poor oral health: unrestorable broken teeth and root remnants with open root canals, commonly associated with periapical and periodontal inflammation, are often seen. Improving oral health in this growing group of frail older adults is a considerable challenge for dental care professionals. Dentists are often uncertain how to deal with root remnants and unrestorable broken teeth in psychogeriatric and/or medically compromised frail older adults. Decisions about the extraction or retention of root remnants should not only be made on the basis of preventing pain and inflammation, but also on the course of disease, life expectancy, cooperation, laws and regulations and other factors that are an issue in geriatric patients but not in regular (healthy) patients. To help oral health care professionals in their treatment choice for this complex patient group, a decision tree was developed in which both root and patient-related factors were included.