32. Restorative approaches and ageing population: are we always able to choose the right treatment… Prof Matteo Basso

Description

The elderly population represents one of the major challenges of modern dentistry. In fact, in addition to the increase in the average survival age, more and more elderly patients keep in time an efficient natural dentition, even thanks to the prevention policies implemented with increasing success in the last decades worldwide. However, it is essential to understand that the dentition of the elderly patient has biological and structural characteristics that can be very different from those of a younger subject, and which can heavily influence the success of a therapy. Moreover, numerous risk factors can influence the choice of a rehabilitative path, above all the presence of pharmacological therapies, manual disabilities or systemic pathologies. Undertaking restorative therapy in an elderly subject, whether it’s a simple direct restoration or a complex prosthetic rehabilitation, requires extreme care in the choice of materials, operational timing, and a wise use of modern digital technologies.

In this lecture, the most common restorative treatments required in the elderly population will be discussed, explaining;
(a) treatment options and possible difficulties,
(b) long term survival rates of different approaches,
(c) treatment of worn dentition, and,
d) resorting, where possible, to modern digital technologies to simplify time and costs even in the most complex cases.