This is very interesting topic that the relationship between stress and oral health. In our busy day-to-day lives, stress becomes a second nature to us. Inevitable stressful situations may incur more stress than normal. Thus our capacity to handle stress may become more difficult over time, and this may impact negatively our health. It is true that our bodies have an in-built mechanism to deal with stress for short periods of time. However, prolonged exposure to stress may be fatal to our health, which can affect oral health negatively. Through this article, you are able to know how stress can give a negative impact on your oral health.
Research shows the different ways in which stress may negatively impact our oral health and their manifestations:
Mouth or canker sores – Are often caused by emotional stress or as a result of biting or vigorous brushing of teeth. These can cause pain for approximately 2 weeks as they heal. Please speak to your dentist to help with the discomfort by using oral rinses a well as dietary precautions to aid in the recovery process.
Research shows the different ways in which stress may negatively impact our oral health and their manifestations:
Tooth grinding caused by stress can give negative impact on your dental health:
Tooth grinding (also known as bruxism) – Stress can cause you to worry, which may cause grinding during sleep. Symptoms associated with grinding may include headaches, unexplained facial pain, a sore jaw, neck aches and earaches. If you think you may by gnashing your teeth at night or clenching your teeth because of stress, consult your dentist. If grinding becomes too severe that the nerves of the teeth are exposed, a root canal treatment may be necessary. Always remember to consult your dentist, he/she may recommend a mouth guard to prevent damaging your teeth. With night guard, we can effectively stop for stress to cause a negative impact on your oral health.
Poor oral hygiene can caused by stress because stress can induce negative affect on your dental health.
Poor oral hygiene – May be exacerbated by stress. You may neglect the need to brush and floss your teeth regularly. This can lead to an increased risk of tooth decay or even gum disease. (for more information, please read this article “5 tips to maintain good oral health)
It is Important to know that we can monitor if there are any negative impact on your oral health.
Missing your regular dental appointments – Regularly visiting your dentist (every 6months), not only provides preventative care but also facilitates diagnosing and managing dental issues that may become worst over time. This can prevent from any poor effect on your oral health caused by stress as dentist can detect any dental disease before it caused any negative impact.
Dry mouth – Medications that deal with stress may result in dry mouth. Our saliva is important as it keeps the pH in our mouth balanced to avoid growth of bacteria, keeps our breath fresh and also has a vital role in digestion.
It is crucial to know how to deal with stress because it is obvious stress can give a negative impact on your oral health.
How to Cope With Stress?
• Identify your what triggers your stress
• Find relaxing techniques or self-care plan to manage stress
• Maintain a good oral hygiene at home
• Visit dentist for exams or cleaning
• Ensure you have enough rest
• Eat a healthy balanced diet and exercise regularly
From this article, we have explored how stress can give negative impacts on your oral health. It is crucial that you have to manage your stress not to affect your health in negative way as oral health highly depends on overall body immunity. If we can manage our stress with some efforts explained above, we also can prevent that stress can cause the poor effect on your dental health.
At Vivid dental surgeons, you can listen to music or watch a movie during treatment to feel more comfortable. Our Doctors and staffs in Vivid do for patients not only deliver the quality of dental treatment but also we provide the cozy and relaxing circumstance which will reduce the stress on them. Please feel free to contact us and explore our website for more information.
