My 90 year old mom has severe short term memory loss. Otherwise she is in pretty good physical shape. She is living independently in an adult community with the help of a part time aide. Her routine is easy for her to follow and she cannot learn nor remember new information or skills.
The dental bridge in her mouth is falling out due to age and poor follow up care. She needs to either get dental implants in her upper jaw to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars or she could get dentures. My concern is many-fold. The process of getting implants is very invasive and involves fairly heavy 
sedation. She will not understand nor appreciate what is happening to her. But I think that she will not be able to adequately care for dentures.
Without some invtervention she will be unable to eat anything other than soft foods. Eating is one of her few remaining pleasures. I also want to avoid the trauma of having her teeth fall out in the middle of a meal which could happen almost at anytime.
Are there any periodontists or dental health professionals who can weigh in on the pros and cons of implants versus dentures for a person in her situation?
Thanks,
Jackie
Not a medical person here, but I think one of the factors to consider is how long she is expected to live. If she’s healthy enough that she might have, say, another 10 years and eating is one of her few remaining pleasures then maybe implants make sense, as opposed to someone who might have only a few months left. But that’s not something I can answer.
Another thing to consider is how much self-care vs. care by others will be occurring going forward. If she is already or soon will be assisted in bodily hygiene, for example, then care of her dentures goes along with making sure she is safely and adequately bathed (as an example).
I’m sure any dentist or oral surgeon will be concerned about how well a 90 year old woman would tolerate sedation for any procedures.
Since the OP is looking for medical advice, let’s move this to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
The implant process takes time. After the implants are installed it takes months for healing before prosthetic teeth are attached. Your mother will have to wear a denture for that period anyway.
I’ve got an implant. It’s very expensive and time consuming. First I had to get xrays to evaluate if there was enough bone and whether a vital nerve in my lower jaw would be hit. The first procedure was over an hour in the chair. Drilling into the jaw to set the post. Not a pleasant experience. Then 4?? I think follow ups. The last two involved getting the crown made and installed. My insurance covered half and I was out about $2,300.
would it be worth going through all that at 90? It’s a lot to put someone that old through.
I was pretty lucky. Not a lot of pain after the first couple days. I’ve heard some people find the metal post quite painful to the touch until it heals in.
correction I’m not sure what the scans I got were called. They weren’t the run of the mill xrays like dentists use looking for cavities. It was in a separate room and a special machine. The Dentist couldn’t see the nerve in my lower jaw clearly. So I was referred to an oral surgeon and he had a higher res machine. That scan showed the nerve and they said I was ok for the implant.
The oral surgeon and Dentist talked it over. The Dentist (who is trained in implants) did the procedure.
IIRC they said that nerve is only in the lower jaw. It’s not an issue with upper jaw implants.
I have a dental implant. It did not involve sedation, just a local. I found it fine (less bothersome than a root canal, which I have also experienced). However I don’t have short term memory loss, so I understood what was happening and why throughout the procedure.
It did also involve having a metal post for a number of months until things had healed enough for a crown to be fitted.
aceplace57, the scan may have been an MRI - that’s what I had done.
It was expensive and time-consuming, but worth it for me. I am in my 30s though, so different issues apply regarding what’s best long-term than for a 90 year old.
Non-emergency sedation is pretty much contra-indicated for the elderly, as it can have significant negative effects on cognition. If she already has a part-time aide, the aide can assist with the oversight of the dentures, with the added benefit that it’s something your mom already has experience with. I would suggest going that route.
Upper implants are more difficult and painful to install than lower. And if you’re worried about her maintaining a denture, please be aware that implant maintenance is also necessary. Otherwise the implants may become infected and fail, and need to be removed.
dentist here. First off what does she want and what does her dentist say?
All cases vary of course but the longer one has been without teeth the less bone that remains in the jaw. For uppers there is often not enough bone in the posterior for implants(due to the sinuses). Don’t think I’ve ever seen a 90 year old with enough bone for posterior implants. There is more likely to be room in the anterior but placement is a bigger issue there.
Since she already has a removable partial denture(bridge) another option between a full denture and implants would be anchors(Well she’ll have a denture but it will have more support). If she has two to four fairly solid teeth(depending on location, canines are great) place anchors to support a complete denture. They are like little snaps. The tooth is root canaled and cut off at the gumline and a male post is placed into the tooth. The female counterpart is placed in the denture. Very easy and much cheaper, faster and easier than implants. I don’t know how to link but you can google Zest Anchors. Zest is the brand I use but there are others.
While some people are sedated for implants local anesthetic only is perfectly fine.
As for pros and cons, Dentures are cheaper and faster but implants give more support than a denture alone.
A properly fitted denture on a patient with a decent amount of jaw ridge remaining should be able to eat without the denture falling out.