‘I've got lots of gaps, but I want to hang on to the ones that I have’: the ageing body, oral health and stories of the mouth

Abstract

The mouth may be presented and understood in different ways, be subject to judgement by others and, as we age, may intrude on everyday life due to problems that affect oral health. However, research that considers older people's experiences concerning their mouths and teeth is limited. This paper reports on qualitative research with 43 people in England and Scotland, aged 65–91, exploring the significance of the mouth over the lifecourse. It uses the concept of ‘mouth talk’ to explore narratives of maintaining, losing and replacing teeth. Participants engaged in ‘mouth talk’ to downplay the impact of the mouth, demonstrate socially appropriate ageing, and distance themselves from ‘real’ old age by retaining a moral identity and sense of self. They also found means to challenge dominant discourses of ageing in how they spoke about missing teeth. Referring to Leder's notion of ‘dys-appearance’ and Gilleard and Higgs’ work on the social imaginary of the fourth age, the study illustrates the ways in which ‘mouth talk’ can contribute to sustaining a sense of self in later life, presenting the ageing mouth, with and without teeth, as an absent presence. It also argues for the importance of listening to stories of the mouth in order to expand understanding of people's approaches to oral health in older age.

‘I didn't want to pass that on to my child, being afraid to go to the dentist': making sense of oral health through narratives of connectedness over the life course

“…Individual oral health experiences are thus shaped by the actions of other people in the past, or the potential impact of actions on others in the future. Our work demonstrates that the mouth is relationally constituted through ‘mouth talk' (Warren et al . Forthcoming) embedded and practiced within family relationships.…”

“…Considering how participants constructed their own mouths and teeth as relational through ‘mouth talk' (Warren et al , Forthcoming), we have shown how individual embodied experiences could be reframed. We have shown how narratives of oral health point to the contextuality, contingency and relationality of how oral health is experienced over the life course, as in the case of residential histories (Mason ).…”

“…We would suggest further intergenerational research on oral health practices to explore the significance of family relationships over the life course. Although all interviews could be read through the lens of connectedness, family relationships were not always the focus (see Gibson et al ., Forthcoming; Gibson et al , ). We have selected narratives in order to show how connectedness can work as an analytical tool.…”

“…Oppositional stories about problematic practices of others can be used to establish ‘this is not how ‘my family' behaves' (Finch : 78), even if such stories are about previous generations of one's own family. Displaying family is about displaying oneself as a mother, father, grandparent etc., acting according to a set of ideals and thus another way of maintaining a moral identity through oral health practices (Warren et al . Forthcoming).…”

Oral care as a life course project: A qualitative grounded theory study

“…From a phenomenological perspective, this process involves bodily “dys‐appearances”: that is, reminders or awareness of one's body—in this case, one's mouth and teeth—due to health problems or pain, when more routinely the body is forgotten about, an absent presence . Failure is judged on the basis of whether or not the work both fits and works in everyday life.…”