Stress is the biggest devil in today’s time it affects our overall health physical and social wellbeing. But unfortunately, it has blanketed us like never before. We had not heard of the stress word when we were kids may because we grew up in a healthier environment or because we were not too open to talk about it or maybe it was a combination of both. But not anymore today stress is a part of our lives and is affecting every part of our body so how will oral health be spared.
Stress contributes to teeth grinding, gum disease, dry mouth Canker sores, ulcers, and bad breath. It may impact your dental health routine and diet increases the risk of tooth decay stress makes it harder for your body to fight any kind of infection. So any infection in the oral cavity then takes longer to heal resulting in a poor prognosis
HOW CAN STRESS IMPACT YOUR DENTAL HEALTH
1. Grinding of teeth
Stress leads to grinding your teeth it is a very common health problem. One probably does grinding or clenching at night and gets up with an ache in the morning commonly headache, sore jaw and ache in the temporomandibular joint. Too much clenching and grinding can damage your tooth structure causing loose teeth, broken teeth and loss of teeth as well. Stress and anxiety are the major reasons for this and later it becomes a habit.
Treatment plan: Nightguard appliance, meditation, counselling and yoga
2. T M J Disorders
Stress grinding leads to TMJ disorders. TMJ is the joint that helps in the movement of the lower jaw. Stiffness and the swelling of this joint due to stress can lead to pain in the joint. It’s very common in young adults just before exams and interview.
Treatment plan: Laser physiotherapy, soft diet, meditation, and face yoga
3. Dry/burning mouth
Stress leads to dehydration even the use of anti-anxiety pills cause dry mouth that’s a condition where the saliva of the mouth reduces and the mouth becomes very sticky. This leads to cavities and bad breath, actually, saliva helps flush out all bacterias and food particles from the oral cavity when the amount of saliva reduces the problems increase.
Treatment plan: Drink a lot of water, meditate, and visit a dentist for saliva substitutes
4. Acidity
Stress also leads to acidity. Acidity leads to acidic reflux with come as a bout and badly effects inside of the lower anterior. They get eroded much before time also the saliva becomes more acidic and one suffers from bad breath.
Treatment plan: Guards to protect teeth, small frequent meals, and meditation
5. Nail Biting
Nail-biting, chewing on a pencil/pen are manifestations of stress, and cause severe damage to the teeth and overall health it can move your teeth out of position and also cause wearing of tooth enamel. It is a very unhygienic practice and can lead to a lot of bacterial infections in the oral cavity and beyond that.
Treatment plan: Itincludes habit breaking appliances, counselling, and meditation
6. Mouth Ulcers
Stress can lead to digestive issues leading to constipation which is one of the major reasons for oral and peptic ulcers. These ulcers can be very painful further leading to the inability to eat anything.
Treatment plan: Visit your dentist
The writer is a practising Cosmetic and Laser dental surgeon for 20 years, Director at Dentem & is an Associate Consultant to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
