2019 Volume 32 Issue 3 Pages 197-203
In Japan, despite the decrease in the total population, the elderly population is increasing, and this will continue for a long time. In 2040, the ratio of the elderly population to the working-age population is expected to be 2 to 3 and the social security costs to be 1.6 times higher than at present. Such an extremely low birthrate and aged society is an extremely fragile situation, both in human and financial resources.
After dental implant treatment, patients' motor and cognitive function decline later in life. In the future, not only many teeth but also implants will be left in the oral cavity of old people who need nursing care. Most patients receive implant treatment in their fifties to early seventies. However, in the seventies, 40％ have a possibility of diabetes and 40％ of women develop osteoporosis. These rates increase with age, therefore the risk of implant loss increases. In the late eighties, one third of men and half of women are in need of nursing care mainly due to cerebrovascular disease and dementia, and the patients themselves may no longer be able to perform oral hygiene. On the other hand, the care-givers responsible for oral hygiene for the frail elderly are also mainly old family members.
In order to minimize the burden in the future, dentists who provide implant treatment are required to face up to the inevitable reality of the future, and be prepared to manage implants for a lifetime.
