Surely you often wonder how does stress affects your dental health? We all react differently to stress, if our immune system is weakened, it triggers our brain to seek solace in things like food and bad habits. These harmful habits can endanger your oral health. Early detection of this cause can help protect the gums, teeth and jaw from the long-term effects of stress. Even when you are under stress, it is important to visit your dentist every six months.
Dry mouth
Saliva removes food particles from teeth, keeps teeth moist, remineralizes enamel and helps fight bacteria. Under stress, you experience reduced saliva production which results in greater plaque buildup and increased risk of disease. Consumption of alcohol and tobacco can also cause dry mouth leading to tooth decay and gum disease.
Squeezed jaws
Muscle tension helps protect the body from injury and pain. However, constant muscle tension in the jaw due to stress can cause problems. This condition causes pain in the jaws and around the ears. You may even have difficulty opening your mouth or chewing food and hear a click in your jaw joint.
Gum disease
Stress causes immune disorders, so you will be at greater risk of oral infections such as gum disease. This disease can cause a number of symptoms, including bleeding and swollen gums and bad breath. Gum disease can cause tooth loss.
Biting nails
Stress can often cause people to bite their nails. By transmitting germs from the nail to the mouth, nail biting can lead to infections in the mouth. Also to the spread of viruses and bacteria from your hands to the rest of your body. All this can damage the teeth and even cause them to move out of position.
Poor immunity
When you are under stress, your body will not be able to fight infections. This means that a small problem in your dental care can quickly grow into something much bigger if it is not addressed at the root.
Smoking
Someone who is under stress could smoke (more) and could drink alcohol more often. Smoking can increase a person up to six times more likely to get gum disease, smoking also greatly affects recovery from the disease, for example, cancer is six times more likely to return if the patient is a smoker.
Any of these bad habits in themselves will have a detrimental effect on oral health. Smoking greatly increases the chances of gum disease, but it also damages the blood vessels in the gums and so can actually reduce gum bleeding.
If your dental health becomes seriously compromised, you may suffer from tooth loss.
Bleeding gums and stress
A small amount of blood in the sink when you spit out toothpaste may not seem like a big deal, but constant bleeding gums should not be overlooked.
Visit your dentist to make sure your brushing and flossing routine is correct and don’t forget to work on your stress levels as well.
Stress can be independent so take a break, accept things you can’t change and try to be positive. If you have problems with oral health due to stress, we can help you!