Tips for a dentist appointment?

About Parkinson's and health Wellbeing
1

Hi all,

I am writing an article on dental and oral health for the next edition of The Parkinson, our membership magazine.

Does anyone have any tips for visiting the dentist when you have Parkinson's? Would love to hear from you!

Best wishes,

Karen 

2

Hi Karen

tell the dentist you have Parkinson s, how it affects you and how it might affect you being in the dentist s chair

bw

samdog

 

3

Yes, make your appointment some weeks ahead when you are sure that, on that day and at that time, you won't have a tremor, are not frozen, can speak coherently, etc etc.and  walk to the consulting room.

If only that could be accomplished.

Thankfully we have a dentist who is aware of  the problems associated with having Parkinsons but our previous    dentist was a complete wally in that respect.

4

Maybe something along the lines of, how   difficult it is to clean your teeth when your arm is  rigid and you are unable to  move the tooth brush due to   freezing and tremor.  Then again, maybe tremor helps with brushing, but not necessarily in the correct   manner.

5

Hi Karen

I am a dentist and thought you might find this toolkit of interest for your article 

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130107105354/http://dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_102982.pdf

If this link does not work Google 'Delivering Better Oral Health'. Page 13 is relevant to adults.

You might also like the free app I have developed www.brushdj.com

Hope this helps

Ben

 

6

Hello everyone,

Thank you so much for all your comments so far. These are all very useful tips, which will really help us put the article together.  

Alison (Editor of The Parkinson)

7

Hi Karen, can you look into the advice regarding the use of adrenaline in numbing injections for patients taking levodopa medication? I have come across a consultant advising dentists against using adrenaline, when patient takes levodopa,  the Roche website says not to use it, my dentist is quite happy to give me just the lidocaine without the adrenaline, my neurologist says it does not matter....Thanks, Kate

8

Hi Kate, 

This is an interesting one! I have spoken to our research team about it. They have done some digging, but there seems to be very little evidence to suggest that adrenaline (used in conjunction with anaesthetics such as lidocaine in dentistry) should not be used alongside levodopa. However, if you do have any concerns, I would suggest discussing this further with your neurologist. Hope that helps a little.