The current, optimistic prognosis is that newborns will reach an average age of 100 years. This increased life-expectancy requires a renewed vision of long-term goals for oral health. The starting-point could be a prospective end-point with minimal oral function which should be reached, for example, in the last years of one’s life. The consequence is that adequate oral healthcare for the elderly starts in childhood. Choices such as the extraction of premolars for orthodontic reasons and the dental re-restoration cycle have a great negative impact on reaching this goal. The average sustainability of dental restorations or prosthetic constructions is commonly much shorter than the life-expectancy of a patient. If oral treatment is necessary, it is recommended to give priority to maintaining a minimally functional dentition up to an advanced age, instead of focusing on short- or medium-term goals.