10/08/2026
๐๐ฒ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ป๐น๐ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐ต๐ถ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ด๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐.
When an older person living with dementia becomes agitated, refuses care, stops eating normally or behaves aggressively, it can be easy to see the behaviour itself as the problem.
But behavioural change is often a big clue to a much bigger underlying problem.
Pain, fear, previous trauma, sensory overload, an unfamiliar environment or another unmet needs may all change the way a person responds. A sudden or fluctuating change in behaviour can also be a sign that something has changed within the body.
This matters in dentistry because a person with dementia may not be able to tell us clearly that a tooth hurts. Standard questions about where the pain is, when it started or how it feels may no longer give us reliable answers.
Instead, we may need to look for changes from that person's normal behaviour.
Are they eating differently?
Are they sleeping poorly?
Have they suddenly started refusing toothbrushing?
Are they touching their face or mouth?
Is this behaviour new?
Family members and regular carers can be invaluable here because they know the person's baseline and may recognise subtle changes that a clinician seeing them for the first itme cannot.
Rather than asking, โHow do we stop this behaviour?โ, sometimes the better clinical question is: โWhat might this person be trying to tell us?โ
