In 2019 my father had several dental appointments to remove all his teeth. After letting the gums heal and having a template made his new teeth were fitted Jan 2020. He loved them and was very happy. Dad is immobile and is totally reliant on nursing staff. He removed his dentures because of discomfort one day in May 2020. They weren't placed in container by staff and haven't been seen since..
Was told by the facility that they aren't liable nor will they finance a new denture set. I feel this is insensitive and unfair. My father wants his teeth, he's 85, he can't enjoy much so at least let him enjoy his food..
This is not replacing a pair of shoes or item of clothing, it is replacing part of my father..
That is a rhetorical question: it would be completely unreasonable to expect you to know. But you must surely equally understand that it is not possible for aides to monitor the whereabouts of every denture at all times. Less than two weeks ago my blood ran cold when I stopped myself throwing an "empty" potato chips packet away in the nick of time - my client had been eating them, a piece got stuck under her dental plate, so she took it out, and where better to keep it safe than in the packet?
Dentures in even my limited experience have already turned up:
in a shoe
inside a pillow case
dressing gown pockets x dozens
spectacles case
wrapped in paper napkins on plates x gazillions
between bed and bedside table
between cushions
So we might know where to start looking. But you cannot expect a facility to shake out and search every paper napkin, every waste paper basket, every plate and mug, every laundry item as a matter of routine.
The key thing is that your father needs his denture. Order another one from the Jan 2020 mould and don't waste any more time arguing about the bill.
To prevent its happening again (or help prevent it, anyway) try to highlight on his care plan that a) he wears full dentures b) he takes them out c) he stashes them; so that the staff are encouraged to develop a routine of checking he's wearing them and, if he isn't and he should be, putting out an APB for them before the garbage is collected or the laundry is taken away.
Agreed that no one could possibly search everything all the time, esp when dementia is at play... Mom started with taking out the hearing aid and not remembering where it was. When I would visit and she didn't have it, I would search her room - on bedside table, under it or the bed, sometimes IN the bed. One staff member located it in the bed while making it up, as it was squealing when her hand was near it. That only works when the battery is working. I would find it and sometimes needed to replace the battery as it was dead. Once she told me she didn't wear one (has for MANY years!) when I asked where it was, other times she'd ask where did I find it.
Initially she was okay dealing with it, but eventually I asked that they replace the battery every two weeks, per the provider. Nope. Eventually I got the email saying it went through the laundry and was ruined. While I agree that you can't check everything, shaking out the sheets before putting them through the wash would make sense in ANY situation, as there are things that might end up in there that you don't want going through the washer/dryer (those are expensive to fix or replace!)
The replacement was rechargeable, so I gave the charger to the nurse, otherwise it might get lost or tossed by mom. They WERE aware that she often took it out, even at the table during meals. Sure enough, a few months later, it was AWOL, most likely tossed wrapped in a tissue or napkin! We had a second one (she only wore one), and asked about them reimbursing the $400 needed to get a replacement, just in case. Nope. So, they have it, I don't think she often wears it if at all now, and I won't spend any more money on another. She'll be 97 (going on 2) next month. It sucks, but no point spending money on something they won't even give to her and "watch" over.
This reminds me of my kids' popping their retainers out of their mouths so they could eat lunch. In the hubbub of getting ready to move out of the cafeteria, they'd forget the retainer and of course the school wasn't responsible for my kids scatterbrained behavior.
I don't think any NH could stand the cost of the replacement of the MANY things that go missing.
I'm sorry for you and dad. Dentures are so expensive. Along with hearing aids--getting old is expensive in so many ways.
While staff do try to be careful when they handle these items, they have no control over it if a client decides to put his dentures somewhere illogical where they cannot be found. For all you know, your father could have thrown them into a nearby wastebasket. It is unrealistic to expect staff to be pawing through every room wastebasket daily in search for lost personal items.
You father needs a large denture container with his name displayed on it in big letters, and you need to tell him to always place them in the container if he takes them out of his mouth.
In addition to the nightly denture soak, I would use an ultraviolet denture sanitizer.