My birthday is coming up this month and I’ve been doing some calculating.  Based on recent figures from the National Center for Health Statistics, it is safe to assume that by the time I turn 65 – in the early 2020s, I will be one of more than 54.6 million Americans to reach that milestone.

Old age, or so I’m told, has both its blessings and its curses.  The same might be said for an aging dental patient populace.

On the plus side, aging baby boomers are big believers in both oral health and cosmetic dentistry.  Many of these folks will continue to see their dentists – and ask more of them – until much later ages.  And, this segment of the population is also more likely than not to be able to afford the procedures they desire and/or require.

The 65-and-older crowd embodies the promise of numerous new sedation dentistry patients.

What poses a challenge is the percentage of 65-plus patients who enter the dental office with chronic health conditions – including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis.  Of particular concern to we sedation dentists: seniors often metabolize medications differently than younger patients and are more likely to be taking plysician prescribed medications or herbal remedies with potentially adverse interactions to our conventional sedation drugs.

All of which speaks volumes for the need – and opportunity – associated with continuing dental education, especially for sedation dentists.

My D.O.C.S. colleague and fellow faculty member, Leslie Shu-Tung Fang, M.D. PhD., is acutely aware of the challenges faced by aging patients.  It is a topic he stresses in his various courses for our D.O.C.S. members.

“Dentists are beginning to understand that knowing the medical background of the patient and knowing when not to get into trouble is of critical importance,” Dr. Fang says.  Indeed, he is an expert on drug interactions and how they can impact the dental patient.

Each time I hear Dr. Fang lecture as part of our D.O.C.S. courses I’m reminded how very lucky we all are.  We benefit from Dr. Fang’s extensive knowledge of the aging dental patient precisely because we provide oral sedation dentistry.  Yet, so much of what he teaches is absolutely vital to general dentists, whether or not they offer OSD.

Many among us will not only see our patient populations age in the coming years, we too will be capable of enjoying longer and healthier professional lives than any generation of dentists who proceeded us.

Knowing whom to treat and how will only become more crucial to our success as we move forward.