volgirl

My mother is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's. She can feed herself and still walks extremely well. (She is only 68.) She can't dress herself, bathe herself, go to the bathroom on her own (though she does still let us know when she needs to go MOST of the time!) She can no longer communicate verbally, but seems to understand a lot of what is said to her. She is quite strong physically and puts up a very good battle when I bathe her. She can no longer perform oral hygiene such as brushing, flossing, etc, and clamps down and will not let someone else do this for her. As a result, her teeth are beginning to decay. This is breaking my heart, as she always took such good care of her teeth when she was able. She needs some extensive dental work, and I don't know how long it will last as she will still not be able to care for them afterwards, but it would be traumatic for her to have them pulled. She would not be able to cope with having dentures. Her last trip to the dentist was an absolute nightmare, and this was after giving her something which her doctor had prescribed so she would tolerate the trip to the dentist. I'm sure someone has had this same problem. How did you handle this, or if you haven't had this problem, but have some ideas, please respond. Thanks ahead of time! In my opinion, this board is the best place to be when I need answers. Everyone is so thoughtful and helpful, even if there isn't an answer, I always find encouragement here.