Active Octogenarians

Jeffrey Caso

13 years ago

In my practice, I see a fair amount of elderly patients. I enjoy talking to them about their lifetime of personal experiences. I am like a sponge around knowledgeable, articulate older people; I take in what they say and try to learn from their experiences. Many of these people have suffered through the loss of spouses or other loved ones and most have thrived in spite of it. The area that I live and practice in is so fortunate to have senior services offered for free that help to make their lives easier and provide social interaction.

The success of the senior citizen centers has a profound effect upon the quality of life of so many people. Mostly from a social perspective but it goes further than that. The desire to get up in the morning, shave, shower and get out of the house is valuable at this point in a person's life. Also, realizing that there are so many people in the same situation and surviving with a great quality of life is a real eye-opener. It is a really good thing.

Today in my practice I had the pleasure of seeing two men over 80 years of age. I have been seeing both of them for more than 20 years, and while I am their dentist, I also feel like a friend. Both lost spouses who were also patients of mine and we talk about that often. Both of these men have embraced the Senior Center and go just about every day.

What I found interesting was that both men had injured an upper central. One needed a crown which I was able to do right away and the other needed a directly bonded restoration. The interesting thing was that both men were very happy to be finished today so that they could get to The Center and both were very concerned about how they would look with their final restorations. So much so that I was inspired to work hard to make them happy. I found this need to look good well into their 80s such a great sign. To me it signified a sense of self-worth and a healthy mental outlook.

I worked hard and pleased them both. I found their high esthetic demands both professionally challenging and personally inspiring. Plan for your future now, keep physically active, exercise your brain through reading and learning, eat healthy, love your spouse or significant other and be happy in all that you do.

I recently read a book titled "Chasing Life" by Sanjay Gupta. He travelled the world trying to find the secret to a long life. He interviewed many extremely old individuals and came up with one commonality. They all had a positive relationship with a loved one, essentially, a reason to live. Now that's a lesson to carry with you into the golden years. Be content with your work and life and everything else will fall into place.