Dr. Poonam Dewan

Blog by Dr. Ratnika agarwal, dental surgeon/owner of smile up dental care implant center, pune

Advancing age puts many seniors at risk for a number of oral health problems, such as:

    Darkened teeth. Caused, to some extent, by changes in dentin -- the bone-like tissue that underlies the tooth enamel -- and by a lifetime of consuming stain-causing foods beverages.
    Dry mouth. It is caused by reduced saliva flow, which can be a result of cancer treatments as well as certain diseases medication side effects. Many medicines can cause dry mouth.
    Diminished sense of taste. While advancing age impairs the sense of taste, diseases, medications,  dentures can also contribute to this sensory loss.
    Root decay. This is caused by exposure of the tooth root to decay-causing acids.
    Gum disease. Caused by plaque made worse by food left in teeth, use of tobacco products, poor-fitting bridges and dentures, poor diets, and certain diseases, such as anemia, cancer, and diabetes, this is often a problem for older adults.
    Tooth loss. Gum disease is a leading cause of tooth loss.
    Uneven jawbone. This is caused by tooth then not replacing missing teeth. This allows the rest of the teeth to drift and shift into open spaces
    Denture-induced stomatitis. Ill-fitting dentures, poor dental hygiene, or a buildup of the fungus candida cause this condition, which is inflammation of the tissue underlying a denture.
    Thrush. Diseases or drugs that affect the immune system can trigger the overgrowth of the fungus candida in mouth

Age in and of itself is not a dominant or sole factor in determining oral health. However, certain medical conditions, such as arthritis in the hands and fingers, may make brushing or flossing teeth difficult to impossible to perform. Drugs can also affect oral health and may make a change in your dental treatment necessary.

Oral hygiene tips for seniors:

Daily brushing flossing of natural teeth is essential to keeping them in good oral health. Plaque can build up quickly on the teeth of seniors, especially if oral hygiene is neglected, & lead to tooth decay and gum disease.

To maintain good oral health, it's important for all individuals -- regardless of age -- to:

    Brush at least twice a day with a fluoride-containing toothpaste
    Floss at least once a day
    Rinse with an antiseptic mouthwash once or twice a day
    Visit our team of experience dentist at smile up dental care implant center on a regular schedule for cleaning an oral exam. We will be very happy to serve you.

What seniors can expect during a dental exam

If you're a senior headed for a check up, our dentistry team will conduct a thorough history dental exam to provide you with the best solutions to resolve the problems from its root cause. Questions asked during a dental history will include:

    The approximate date of your last dental visit and reason for the visit
    If you have noticed any recent changes in your mouth
    If you have noticed any loose or sensitive teeth
    If you have noticed any difficulty tasting, chewing, or swallowing
    If you have any pain, discomfort, sores, or bleeding in your mouth
    If you have noticed any lumps, bumps, or swellings in your mouth

During an oral exam, our experience team of dentists will check the following: your face & neck (for skin discoloration, moles, sores); your bite (for any problems in how the teeth come together while opening closing your mouth); your jaw (for signs of clicking and popping in the temporomandibular joint); your lymph nodes salivary glands (for any sign of swelling or lumps); your inner cheeks (for infections, ulcers, traumatic injuries); your tongue and other interior surfaces -- floor of the mouth, soft and hard palate, gum tissue (for signs of infection or oral cancer); and your teeth (for decay, condition of fillings, and cracks).

If you wear dentures or other appliances, our dentist team will ask a few questions about when you wear your dentures and when you take them out (if removable). He or she will also look for any irritation or problems in the areas in the mouth that the appliance touches, and examine the denture or appliance itself (looking for any worn or broken areas).

Please call our team on 8237802848 / 020-27041188 or visit Dr. Ratnika agarwal at smile up dental care implant center, pune today and get your elders dental check-up today! we provide dental solutions for all age groups.

Parents are always concerned about their child's physical health, but often ignore their mental health. Along with physical well-being, your child's mental well-being is also equally important.

The following are eight tips to improve your child's mental well-being:

1. Adequate sleep: Sufficient amount of sleep is required for a child to stay mentally fit. Parents often engage their children with various classes and activities and compromise on their sleeping hours. This in turn affects the child's mental state. Therefore, as a parent, you must take care not to compromise on your child's sleeping hours.
2. Allowing them to play: Nowadays, children are overburdened with studies and other learning activities. They do not get to play quite often. But as a parent, you must take care of your child's schedule, so that he/she can have proper playtime too. Playing involves physical activity as well as creativity in certain cases. This helps to improve mental health.
3. Learning to share and care: You must take care to inculcate in your child the values of sharing and caring. These little things can also help improve your child's mental health. Learning how to share with others and caring for others will help them to stay happy.
4. Regular exercise: Encouraging your child to regularly exercise will not only help improve his/her physical health, but also mental health. It will also help them to reduce stress and maintain a good mood as well.
5. Listen to them: Parents often ignore when children are speaking on less important matters; may be about a new friend or a strict teacher in school. But as a parent, you must take out some time from your daily schedule to listen out to their stories. Listening to them attentively will make them feel important, increase their confidence and hence, improve their mental well-being.
6. Encourage them to make friends: Encouraging your child to make new friends will help them to socialize better. They will feel confident about themselves and also open up. This can boost up their mental well-being.
7. Good nourishment: Proper nourishment is not only essential for being physically fit, but also mentally fit. Good nourishment will help them stay healthy physically and increase their energy levels. This in turn will positively affect their mental health.
8. Make them feel safe: Children need to feel safe in order to stay mentally fit. Try and spend some time with them every day. As a parent, always make your children realize that you are right beside them. Listen to their problems and help them find solutions to solve those instead of scolding them. Help them to relax and feel secure to stay mentally fit.

If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a the doctor and ask a free question.

Home remedies for babies up to 6 months

Cold & Cough remedies

1. Breast Milk

Breast milk is best home remedy for curing each and every disease in infants. Some children don’t latch properly when suffering with cold & cough. Don’t worry, keep offering breast milk. You don’t really have to give any other medicine for simple cold and cough. Breast milk will solve the problem.

2. Squirt Breast Milk in Nose

Lessor known use of breast milk. Some moms put few drops of breast milk in nose of child, and it helped in fast curing from cold.

3. Saline Water

If you don’t know, saline water is salted water. You can even make it at home but I recommend you to buy it from market because packed saline water has appropriate ratio of salt & water. Put few drops in the blocked nose of your child. Saline water will help unblocking the stuffy nose of your child. Keep cleaning the nose.

4. Nasal Suction with Pump

Suction pump is used for cleaning the nose of infants because cloth based hanky cotton based face towel can make rashes on soft nose of new born baby. Make sure to wash suction pump after every use.

5. Garlic & Ajwain Fumes

Garlic is very powerful medicine with anti-bacterial properties. Ajwain (carom seeds) also kills virus & bacterias.

Roast 2–3 big cloves of garlic & few pinches of Ajwain on tawa for just one minute. You will be able to smell powerful fumes. Let the mixture cool down and keep near your child. The smell of mixture will heal the cold & cough of your child. You can also bind the mixture in pouch for better handling.

6. Light Steam

Inhaling steam is a natural way to provide relief for blocked nose, chest congestion & cold.

I will not recommend proper steam for infants using steamer. Rather keep your room little steaming by placing a steamer or boiling water near your bed.

You can also make your bathroom steamy by running hot water tap for some time. Sit in bathroom for 10–15 minutes by taking your infant in your lap.

7. Cover chest, head and feet

You know better how to protect your child from cold. All kids are not same, so it’s better to observe your child. My son gets cold from chest and we take utmost care in winters to cover him with cloths, especially his chest. He remain okay without hat or socks.

8. Sanitizing hands

Once anyone in house is caught up with cold, make sure everyone keep their hands sanitized. It’s not rocket science but people spread infection by not keeping hands clean. It’s simple home remedy to protect your family from cold & cough.

9. Keep babies head elevated

Babies feel difficulty in sleeping when suffering from blocked nose & cold. Elevate your baby’s head with help of pillow or cushion while she is sleeping to minimize the discomfort of blocked nose. Other home remedies can work better when child is at rest and sleeping.

10. Oil Massage

Light massage of mustard oil or coconut oil will help your baby to get relief from cough. Do massage on chest & back of your baby.

11. Coconut Oil with drumstick leaves

Warn up coconut oil and put some drumstick leaves (moringa). It is effective home remedies when applied on hair of child who is suffering from cold.

12. Herbal Coconut Oil Massage

Warm up coconut oil and add tulsi leaves. Tulsi will leave its healing properties in the coconut oil. You can also add a pinch of camphor. Mix well to dissolve camphor into coconut oil. Massage the oil on chest of your baby before sleep. You can also do hair massage with same oil. It will give relief from cold and cough.

13. Diffuse Essential Oils in Room

Essential oils (EOs) are extracts of plants. They can come from the roots, leaves, flowers, stems, or a mixture of these. Don’t get confused with many type of fragrance oils found in the market. Fragrance oils are synthetic, they do not have the healing properties or effects. The essential oils that are good to diffuse to help with congestion are: Cedarwood, Clove, Eucalyptus, Ginger, Lemon, Melaleuca (ericifolia), Peppermint, Rosemary, Sandalwood and Thyme.

Dilute essential oils with water and put in diffuser for better results.

Home remedies for fever in babies (upto 6 months)

14. Breast Milk

Again, breast milk helps in fighting with fever (and it’s root cause). Don’t stop feeding your little one even in fever.

15. Skin to Skin Contact with mom

Most of people ignore the power of child’s connection with mom. Child remains inside mother’s womb for 9 months and always feel comfortable near mom. We have experimented it several times since the birth of our child. A direct skin to skin contact with mom gives tremendous relief to child. Give a close hug to your child without any cloths in between.

16. Lukewarm Bath

A warm bath helps bringing temperature to normal. Give your child a lukewarm bath in tub or by sponge.

17. Vinegar Sponge Bath

Add some vinegar to lukewarm water & give the bath to your little one. Soon your kid’s fever will be down.

18. Diluted Lavender Oil Massage

Like I mentioned in cold & cough remedies, oil massage helps in fever as well. Scientifically you have to give comfort to your child. Fever will go away when your child is in harmony. Dilute lavender oil in mustard or coconut oil. Give a light massage to your baby from head to toe.

19. Onion in Socks

Traditionally onions are used to cure fever in India. Cut the onion into 2–3 pieces and put under the feet, inside the socks of your child. Works best when the child is sleeping.

Home remedies for gas in stomach (upto 6 months)

20. Burp after every feed

You have to understand why babies have gas problems more often than elders. When infants drink milk, air stuck into their throat & stomach. The sound of burp happens when the air is released from stomach.

As they said, prevention is better than cure, always burp your baby after every feed and in-between the feed.

21. Exercising baby’s legs

If baby is feeling uncomfortable with gas problem, then help her in exercising by cycling legs for two minutes. Don’t do this exercise immediately after feeding but give a time gap of at least 30 minutes. Folding and pressing both legs towards stomach will also help releasing gas. We tried both methods and it worked most of the times.

22. Stomach massage

Light massage on stomach will help soothing your child. You can use any baby oil but I prefer mustard or coconut oil. Do tummy massage for five to seven minutes with light hand.

23. Hing (Asafoetida)

Hing is very effective Indian home remedy for gas related issues in children. Take a spoon of warm water and put a pinch of hing into it. We can not give hing to infants directly by mouth so apply the hing water on your child’s abdomen or around baby’s navel in anti-clockwise direction.

24. Warm Towel

Boil some water in the pan. Soak a clean hand towel into hot water and squeeze out excess water. Check the temperature and make sure towel is not too hot for the child. Place the warm towel on the tummy of your child and it will start giving relief to your kiddo from gas problem.

Home Remedies to cure vomit & loose motion in infants (upto 6 months)

25. Breast Feeding

Whatever the issues are, breastmilk is proven medicine for infants. Keep your child hydrated by breastmilk. Don’t give any other type of external milk, not even cow’s milk.

You should also look for reasons of vomit or loose motion. It could be because of some infection, teething, or just because of climate change. Try to recall what child has eaten in past 24 hours?

26. Change to soy based milk powder

If your child is taking formula powder then shift to soy based formula. Your child will have lesser rashes with soy based formula and it will help in fast recovery from loose motion.

27. Gripe Water

Gripe water is effective remedy for diarrhea in babies. Gripe water gives relief to stomach and help curing loose motions.

28. Curd and Buttermilk

It’s not recommended to children below 4 months but if your child is able to sit and started consuming semi-solids then give some curd and buttermilk. Curd has natural probiotic that help curing stomach related issues.

Home Remedies for babies more than 7 months

Cure cold & cough with home based remedies

Prevention is always better than cure. Try these super effective immunity boosting foods to stop the cold and cough before happening at the first place.

29. Steam

Steam is the first thing you should try in case of cold & cough. Inhaling steam helps to clear baby’s blocked nose and open blocked airways. It helps your baby to sleep better and speed up recovery from cold , cough & congestion. You can use room humidifier or steamer to keep room air moist. Avoid to keep your baby close to hot & steamy water.

30. Garlic Ajwain Potli

Dry roast 2–3 garlic cloves & one tablespoon of ajwain on dry tawa or pan. Once its roasted, switch off the flame. Make a potli out of it. You can place potli around baby’s bedding or in his cradle during sleep time. The garlicky ajwain smoke helps to get relief from blocked nose & chest congestion.

31. Dry roasted turmeric rub

Turmeric is one of popular home remedies for cold & cough. The antibacterial properties of turmeric makes it an effective solution to treat cough and cold naturally. Take a dried turmeric root, burn it and make a turmeric powder from it. Apply the turmeric paste(turmeric powder & few drops of water) on the baby’s nose to get relief from blocked nose.

32. Turmeric paste

Make a turmeric paste by mixing half teaspoon of turmeric powder with 1 tablespoon of water. Heat it up on flame & apply the warm turmeric paste on baby’s chest, neck, feet. As turmeric has antibacterial properties, it helps to get relief from phlegm, congestion & cough.

33. Garlic & Mustard Oil Massage

Mustard oil has medical & antibacterial properties. Its a safe & effective way to cure cough & congestion in children. Put one or two garlic cloves in mustard oil and heat the oil. Once the oil is lukewarm, rub it on baby’s chest & feet. Warmth & smell of mustard oil helps to get quick relief from nasal congestion and cough & cold.

You can also heat the mustard oil with a teaspoon of rock salt into it. Once the oil is lukewarm, rub it on baby’s chest, back & feet.

34. Nilgiri Oil

Nilgiri oil, also known as eucalyptus oil, a good remedy for a cough and cold. Eucalyptus oil helps increase circulation in the body, helps expel phlegm and decongests the blocked airways. Nilgiri oil helps to keep nose moist. Just sprinkle few drops of nilgiri oil on baby’s clothes or on some handkerchief n keep it around baby.

35. Rub Essential Oil

Add one or more essential oils to a carrier oil and run some on your baby’s feet or chest. A few that should be safe to try are eucalyptus, lemon, and sandalwood (peppermint is not recommended).

36. Use Vaporub

Rub Vicks Vaporub to bottom of your baby’s feet and chest at night, cover her feet with cotton socks. Your baby will get instant relief from cough. VapoRubs actually don’t remove congestion, it makes baby feel better with its cooling action.

37. Tulsi Water

Tulsi juice helps to get relieve from cough, cold and fever. Boil few leaves of tulsi into water & give this water to your baby or you can add 2–3 spoons of tulsi water into baby’s milk.

38. Boil tulsi and badi Elachi

Boil 4–5 tulsi leaves and one badi elachi (black cardamom) in one cup of water. Once boiled, strained and let it cool down. Feed two teaspoons of this water to your baby.

If you are giving top-up milk / formula to your baby then you can add 2–3 teaspoons of it to milk.

39. Panikoorka Juice

Panikoorka is an Ayurvedic herb, commonly used in south indian states to cure cough, cold, sore throat, nasal & chest congestion in children.

Boil the leaves of panikoorka for 4–5 minutes in 1 cup of water. Once cool down, feed 2 tablespoon of water to children. Its a very effective remedy to treat excess phlegm.

40. Warm water with ajwain

Water boiled with ajwain seeds is a good remedy for cough. Give this water on regular interval to your baby to keep him hydrated.