By Rick Banas of assisted living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
During a recent informational program at the Cambridge House affordable assisted living community that BMA manages in Swansea, Illinois, Dentist Arthur Engelage talked about “How to Take Care of Your Teeth as You Age.”
The native of Belleville, Illinois, earned his Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from Southern Illinois University (SIU). He has practiced in his hometown for 35 years.
He cited common problems experienced by older adults:
Dry Mouth – because your salvia diminishes as you age and due to the effects of some medications.
Broken Teeth because your teeth get brittle as you age.
Missing Teeth.
Cavities in the root of your teeth,
Arthritis which makes it more difficult to hold a tooth brush.
Tartar Build-Up because your teeth get rougher as you age.
Loose Fitting Dentures or Partials.
He provided the following tips:
Brush your teeth and gums twice a day, especially between the time you have eaten dinner before you go to bed. Brush the front and back of your teeth. Brush your tongue because bacteria on your tongue can attack your teeth.
Use a soft tooth brush.
An electric tooth brush can be beneficial, especially for people who may have difficulty holding a tooth brush.
Floss daily.
Get your teeth polished on a regular basis as a smooth surface reduces the opportunity for plaque and tartar to build up on your teeth.
Use an alcohol-free mouthwash if you want to use a mouthwash. Not using mouthwash is better than using one that has alcohol because the alcohol can dry out your mouth. This can cause problems with your teeth and gums, interfere with digestion, cause problems with sleeping and speaking, and cause trouble swallowing.
Since salvia decreases at night, keep a glass of water by your bed.
Get your mouth in good condition while you are in good health because certain health conditions and some medications can make dental work more difficult.
If you need dentures, mini-implants are now available to help secure dentures in your mouth.
If dry-mouth is a problem, your dentist can prescribe an alcohol-free mouth rinse for dry-mouth or you may want to use the over-the-counter Biotene product for dry mouth.
For more information on Dental Care for Adults 60 Years of Age and Older, you can visit the Mouth Healthy website brought to you by the American Dental Association www.mouthhealthy.org/en/adults-over-60/
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
By Rick Banas of assisted living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
Residents of Heritage Woods of Dwight were treated to a different king of “heavy metal” music one Friday afternoon.
Wendell Lighty talked about and performed saw music at the affordable assisted living community that BMA manages in Dwight, Illinois. Wendell hails from Saunemin, Illinois, a small town located south of Dwight and east of Pontiac.
Saw music is created by rubbing a fiddle, violin or cello bow across the bent metal blade of a handsaw. To create the desired bend, the handsaw musician grips the handle of the saw with one hand and usually clamps the other end between his or her knees. Wendell has a wooden knob installed on the other end of his saw.
The length of the saw can affect of tone. Shorter saws have higher pitches. Adding to the length tends to lower the tone.
There are tenor, baritone and bass saws, Wendell said.
Wendell plays the saw by ear; he says he is not aware of any saw sheet music.
No one is quite sure of the origins of saw music, but in the United States it is primarily found in bluegrass and country and western.
Saw player Tom Scribner played saw music on Neil Young’s “This Old Homestead” and saw music can be heard in Sarah McLachlan’s “Last Dance,” Tom Waits “November,” and the Flatlanders’ “Down in the Light of the Melon Moon.”
A fellow by the name of Jim Leonard penned a book called “Scratch My Back – A Pictorial History of the Musical Saw and How to Play It” that was published in 1989 by Kaleidoscope Press.
Here is a sample of some of saw music performed by Wendell Lighty for the assisted living residents at Heritage Woods of Dwight.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
By Rick Banas of assisted living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
Super centenarian Jeanne Louise Calment was in her early thirties when German Psychologist Alois Alzheimer first presented information to the scientific world on the clinical symptoms of what has widely become known as Alzheimer’s disease.
Madame Calment was born the year before Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, and she lived to be 122 years of age.
What is so remarkable, said Dr. Gary Small in his keynote address at the Life Services Network (LSN) 2012 Annual Meeting and Exhibition in Chicago, is that Calment had the brain of an 80 year-old when she died in 1997. She was alert and showed no signs of dementia.
Dr. Small is a neuroscientist at the UCLA Longevity Center and an expert on Alzheimer’s disease, memory and aging. He is the author of the book “The Alzheimer’s Prevention Program: Keep Your Brain Healthy for the Rest of Your Life.” He was speaking to those of us attending the LSN Conference on the topic “Can We Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease?”
Reading stories about Calment, I learned that she rode a bicycle until she was 100. She ate two pounds of chocolate a week until a doctor convinced her to give up sweets – when she was 119. She quit smoking at 117, apparently due to vanity rather than the advice of her doctor.
Researchers attribute her longevity and vitality to her immunity to stress. She professed the belief that you should not worry about things you can’t do anything about. Calment, herself, also cites a diet rich in olive oil and an occasional glass of Port wine.
While scientists have not found a way to prevent Alzheimer’s disease, “we don’t have to sit back and be passive,” Dr. Small contends. There are things that you can do to potentially delay the onset of symptoms.
Physical exercise was on the top of Dr. Small’s list for protecting your brain. Why? Because anything that gets more blood pumping oxygen into your brain is what is showing the most compelling scientific benefits. Exercise helps brains become larger and more efficient.
Mental stimulation is another way to build brain function, Dr. Small says. Studies, for instance, show that people who speak two languages have a lower incidence of Alzheimer’s disease than those who only speak one. Studies also show that doing tasks that are unfamiliar such as an Internet search stimulates the brain more than tasks that are highly familiar such as reading a book. Once you get efficient at a task, there is less brain activity.
Other tips cited by Dr. Small include…
Managing Stress – spend time with friends; talk about your feelings; and take regular breaks to relax. Meditation, yoga and tai chi also were suggested.
Nutrition – Eat a healthy diet and manage your weight. Your brain is 70% fat so it makes sense to eat good types of fat. Fish and nuts that are high in omega-3 fatty acids and fish oil were cited.
Brain Protective Drinks – Red wine has antioxidants and anti-aging benefits. Alcohol in moderation. Caffeine, which also can help reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease.
Treat Hypertension and High Cholesterol.
Speaking of the health benefits of wine, I love what 90-year-old Betty White, host of NBC’s Off Their Rockers, has to say in the video below -
Life Services Network (LSN) is a statewide association that has represented the leading providers of older adult services in Illinois, including senior living, assisted living and supportive living communities, for more than 75 years.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
Here is some great news for all those older adult couch potatoes out there. You don’t need to become an exercise fanatic.
The results of two studies cited this summer in Science Daily shows that just adding some moderate physical activity into your life can have significant benefits.
One study was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology. The study showed that the people who benefitted the most from light or moderate physical activities, such as walking, were those who hardly did any physical activities at all. Just seven hours of moderate physical activities per week reduced the risk of death by nearly 25%.
To read more about this study by researchers from Cambridge University, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, click here.
The second study, which was published in the Frontiers of Aging Neuroscience, was of adults ages 59 to 80 who were sedentary (inactive) before participating in the study. The study compared those who joined a walking group versus those participated in stretching and toning exercises for a year.
The walkers had better brain function and did significantly better on cognitive tests, especially with those skills that tend to decline with age.
For more information on this study led by Art Kramer, psychology professor at the University of Illinois, click here.
Related studies on the ScienceDaily website suggest that exercise can reduce the risk of stroke in men and breast cancer in women. Use the search box and type in your topic keyword(s) to learn more about the subject of interest.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
For Francesco Clark, life was exactly as it should be. Then his chin hit the bottom of the pool.
He was paralyzed from his neck down and was told he would never breathe again without a ventilator nor would he be able to move from his bed.
Clark tells his inspiring story about the accident that so dramatically changed his life, and the business that got him back on his feet again, in his recently released book “Walking Papers.”
In the forward written by Alexandra Reeve Givens, daughter of Superman Christopher Reeve, Alexandra notes that her father once wrote that “hope is like a lighthouse.” She adds, “Like a lighthouse, I hope Francesco’s story will serve as a guide to anyone feeling lost and in need of hope.”
What caught my attention the most were Francesco’s comments about expectations, empowerment and love.
One of the lessons he says that he learned as he has worked to recover from the spinal cord injury sustained in the accident is that we should not base our expectations, hopes and dreams on what others expect. He stresses that “we need to go beyond our preconceived notions of what is possible, if we want to move ahead.”
He expresses his frustrations with health care professionals who seemed to just be going through the motions because they didn’t really believe the patients could get any better and about Christopher Reeve being accused of “being in denial” and giving people “false hope.”
In contrast, he cites the empowerment he felt at a rehabilitation center in Detroit that was proactive. The atmosphere was positive and stimulating. The therapists were so enthusiastic.
He also talks about the amazing love of his family. His mother’s rebuttal to his concerns about the impact that he was having on the quality of her life is powerful. She reminded him that “you are a gift to us just like your brother and your sister” and that her duties as a mother were “not a burden.”
If you have not already picked up and read “Walking Papers,” the book is a great read. If you have, please share your comments.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
If you need dentures, mini-implants are now available to help secure dentures in your mouth.
Residents of ![Madame Jeanne-Louise Calment [1875 - 1997]](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-fVf3y-glrHA/T7F4gBq6oTI/AAAAAAAAgzA/4eNtDQCm6Bs/s346/Madame%2520Jeanne-Louise%2520Calment.jpg)
