How Stress May Affect Your Smile
Could Stress Be Harming Your Smile? Understand the Connections Between Oral Health and Anxiety
At this point, our fast-paced world makes dealing with stress inevitable. While you hopefully find lots of reasons to smile, it’s important to take note of when anxiety begins to take over your physical and mental well-being.
We aim to make Ridgewood Oral Surgery as relaxing as possible, since we know the importance of maintaining whole-body wellness. This is why we also want to talk about how your smile might suffer from increased stress in your life.
Experiencing the Signs of Tooth Grinding
The negative effects of stress often pop up when your mind and body are trying to be relax. Bruxism, or teeth grinding, is a common nighttime challenge that signals increased stress. If you happen to clench or move your jaw too much at night, you might experience these oral health issues:
- Tooth fractures
- TMD symptoms worsening
- Headaches and cheek soreness
Do you wake up with a sore jaw? If so, you may need a teeth grinding assessment to find out if your body’s stress response is impacting your smile.
Finding Out You Have Gum Disease and Inflammation
Chronic stress is recognized for weakening immune systems, which could be why you get sick during times of increased mental strain. This effect extends to making gum disease worse if you already have gingivitis or periodontitis.
If you notice these symptoms, then it’s best to let us know. Gum disease treatment can halt or even reverse early gum disease.
- Swelling and bleeding gums
- Tooth loss or mobility
- Recession along the gum line
Developing Dry Mouth
Dry mouth can develop as a one-time anxiety response. But, it’s more likely to continue occurring when you are dealing with chronic stress. Mouth breathing and other behaviors can cause the saliva to dry up. Anxiety and depression medications can also have dry mouth as a side effect.
Having dry mouth increases your susceptibility to the following oral health issues:
- Tooth decay
- Foul breath
- Increased bacterial growth
Opting Out of Your Normal Oral Hygiene Routine
Brushing and flossing your teeth each day may move down on your list of priorities when your life is bustling along. But, skipping oral hygiene habits can also increase stress when you develop cavities.
We want to make caring for your smile easier, which is why we’ve put together this list of tips to take care of your smile.
- Set reminders for toothbrushing time
- Wear a custom mouth guard for bruxism
- Increase your water intake to combat dry mouth
- Choose healthy meals and snacks
- Come see your dentist for preventative care
Seeing symptoms such as bleeding gums or dealing with jaw pain are signs that you need to take action. When you visit Ridgewood Oral Surgery, we’ll help you care for your smile in a relaxing environment that is designed for your comfort.
