There are over 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK and this figure is expected to rise to over a million by 2021. Increasingly, oral healthcare professionals in primary care will see more patients affected by dementia at varying stages of the disease, and it is therefore crucial that they have a basic understanding of the disease and how these patients can be managed in a primary care environment. The first article in this series of two provides a definition of dementia and describes the symptoms of the disease along with the key issues related to oral health, such as oral pain. Oral pain can have far reaching consequences, but identifying it can be problematic, particularly in the latter stages of the disease. This article will therefore cover how to diagnose pain in patients with dementia. Information is also provided about how to make dental surgeries more 'dementia friendly'.
Keywords: Dementia; dental; dental care; dental facilities; epidemiology; facial pain; focal infection.