She had a full denture on the top and a removable partial-denture on the bottom. While the top denture was taken out and cleaned at night, the carers had not noticed that she had a plate on the bottom and had never removed it for cleaning. Her gums had grown over the wires and her entire bottom jaw was inflamed and infected. She didn’t have the ability to tell anyone what was wrong or even to understand herself why her mouth was sore. She was in considerable pain. This is how vulnerable someone with dementia is. I couldn’t believe that this had happened to my mother in what was I thought a well-run care home. It had all the services people look for in aged care but it didn’t have enough workers with the training to truly care for someone or the procedures to make sure this oversight didn’t happen. And it’s not just this facility. Mum was in three different homes and this was the best.