Stress is very strongly connected to the state of your oral health. Oral health can be impacted by mental health and vice versa, and stress is a huge component of that.
Stress Causing Oral Problems
Stress can cause you to do many things that are non-optimum for your overall health and to your oral health especially.
Teeth grinding is something that can damage the enamel of the tooth, the structure of the jaw, and i common to a number of mental health issues.
Stress can also majorly impact your diet – sugary foods offer you a lot of comfort. Comfort foods with high sugar content alters the acidity in your mouth, which encourages bacteria, and the sugar feeds that bacteria.
Stress also affects your routine, so that daily teeth cleaning, flossing, and gargling of mouthwash, may have totally dropped out, and this is obviously going to have an impact, say the professionals at SynergyOMS.
The Pain It Causes
Bad teeth and infected gums are obviously not a pleasant thing to have. They can cause you a lot of pain, and it can be protracted. Tooth pain is one of those things which can be really hard to handle, even with pain medication, or with more natural solutions.
Being afraid of going to the dentist and getting that handled is going to drag out the problem. Being worried that you cannot afford to get the situation handled is going to add to any stress that the pain is giving you. You may not be able to sleep, you may not be able to eat, you may not be able to work – all of these things are just going to stack stress upon stress. If your molars hurt the most, it could be that your wisdom teeth may need removing – learn more.
An Indicator Of Mental Health
People with mental health issues often have oral health issues. In fact people with mental health problems are more likely to be suffering from bad teeth and bad gums.
Some of this decline is obviously attributable to the fact that your routine is often disrupted when you are experiencing mental stress. One of the first things to go out when someone gets depressed can be self-maintenance.
Visiting your dentist, they will be able to see whether there has been a steep decline in your oral health, and they will be able to see if you are grinding your teeth. As the healthcare industry starts to look more closely at how the body and mental health all work together, dentist’s are trained to look for these indicators, and will most likely have someone that they can refer you to.
In Conclusion
If your teeth start to deteriorate because of something in connection to your mental health, or you need help with them after a bout of depression or stress, ask your dentist. Your dentist wants to help you and look after you.
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