Denise, I would say it depends on the person and how used to using the
microwave they were.   My mother in law got a microwave oven and NEVER once
used it for anything.   In her case she would have created a disaster by the
time she was showing signs of dementia.   I have heard of another person
with dementia, for whom it was second nature and they just hit the one
minute button till the item was done.   Ultimately she forgot how to use
that too, but for a while she was OK with it.

If you ask me, a person with dementia that is at a point where it is
diagnosable is not OK with any kind of cooking if left unattended, but maybe
fine if another person was someplace nearby discreetly watching for any
unusual situation.

I am reminded of the time my mother in law turned on the water faucet and
could not remember how to turn it off.

As Evelyn says, it depends a lot on the person and their being used to it.

Dad microwaves his breakfast every morning: he has frozen blueberry
pancakes, a frozen sausage patty, and then he warms the syrup that comes in
a microwave-safe bottle before pouring it over.  He is so glad to be
self-sufficient that I avoid fixing anything special even occasionally, as
it seems to throw him off.

I'll add that being used to a specific function is key to my father using
the microwave.   The microwaveable syrup is Hungry Jack brand, and comes in
a squat jug with a little temperature-sensitive label that says 'warm' if
it's heated. We had a couple of incidents (that Dad didn't recognize as
incidents) more than a year ago in which my father set the warm time for the
syrup way too long.  The first time it was just lucky that the jug was
pointed away when he opened it - it sprayed steaming syrup all over the
floor, but would have been much worse if it sprayed onto him.  I caught the
second couple of times before it overheated.  Now Dad has a complicated, but
reliable, program worked out: he *knows* the heating time for about a third
of a bottle, and knows it's for a third of a bottle.  We keep two bottles on
hand, and he fills one bottle to one-third full, and puts that in the
microwave. I do y best to keep an eye on him when he's doing this, but he's
reliably memorized this routine for a long time now - he does get flustered
if we drop low on syrup and he doesn't have two bottles for the routine (and
I switch out the bottles so he's not endlessly microwaving the same bottle).
Dad did not remember, last time I mentioned it, the temperature-sensitive
label that shows when the syrup bottle has been heated.

Dad has had no problem with the pancakes and sausage part of his breakfast
cooking - he puts it in, punches the buttons and it comes out right every
time.  But on occasion he's tried to cook something  else in the same
microwave - and couldn't remember how to set the cooking power or the
cooking time.  The combination of button-presses for his daily breakfast is
programmed in his mind somehow, so he doesn't have to think about it, but
using the microwave to cook something that requires understanding the
overall concept of the keypad is (on *some* days) a puzzle beyond him.

Our microwave oven is 4-1/2 years old (last year sometime, Dad forgot I'd
replaced it and thought it was an old one my mother let me have - he was
amazed that a 30-year-old microwave lasted so long (even Mom's old oven
would only have been 20 years old); I suspect that when/if it quits working,
my father's ability to heat his own breakfast will be significantly
impaired.

--
Robert

Most certainly it could. Its not just food, it might be something more
bizzarre, such as she put a shoe in the microwave for example.

Never mind someone with dementia. I have accidentally put
inappropriate things in the microwave (like a china plate with gild
trim) which created a huge snap crackle pop display, had paper towels
light up in flames, and also have burned myself from steam while
taking the lid off micrwaved items, or from plates that get hot (ever
notice some plates or cups get super hot while other styles and types
don't??) I have one coffee mug that is lethal - I expect its something
to do with the glaze.

I don't think you want someone with AD monkeying with any electrical
applicance without supervision. My MIL had an electric kettle (common
here in Canada) that automatically shut itself off once it boiled, so
we figured that that was fairly safe when she was in early AD - after
all, you can't boil it dry. However, she managed to reach across the
steam and give herself a nasty scald on her arm. I really think you
have to think of them almost in the same light as a preschooler.

Would you want a 4 year old heating things up in the microwave without
supervision? Ay, yi, yi!! I think most people with AD beyond the very
early stages lose their ability to analyse a situation and see the
potential hazards, or figure out what to do if something goes wrong.

Mary G.

yes!  plus if they put metal objects (spoons, dishes with gold
trim, etc) in the microwave, it can not only blow out the
microwave tube, it can also cause fires.

pretty soon, you'll have to hide all the sharp knives, too.