It seems like our lives are busier than ever. In keeping up with our daily responsibilities, sometimes we ignore the stress in our lives and overlook the effects it can have on our oral and overall health.
If you’re experiencing a lot of stress lately, you may want to stop and ask yourself how it could be threatening your smile. Here are just a few ways stress affects your oral health.
Teeth Grinding
Do you ever catch yourself grinding or clenching your jaw throughout the day? Do you wake up with soreness in your face, jaw, or neck area? Do you suffer from frequent headaches or migraines?
If you do, you might have what’s known as bruxism.
Bruxism is when you grind your teeth or clench your jaw. You could be doing this during the day or at night when you’re not even aware of it. It can cause damage to your teeth such as chips, breaks, or loosened teeth.
Teeth grinding can also lead to temporomandibular joint disorders (commonly referred to as TMJ or TMD). This is the joint in front of your ears where your jaw and skull meet. Grinding and clenching can put stress on the joint and lead to problems with your alignment and your bite.
Poor Diet
What we eat and how we feel are so closely related, it’s sometimes hard to tell where the effects of one end and the others begin.
When you’re under a lot of stress, whether it be due to finances, your job, or your personal relationships, you might reach for those less than healthy, highly processed comfort foods like chips and cookies.
While the saying, “Everything in moderation” may apply to certain things, we should be extra careful when it comes to our diet. Stress eating can really do a number on your oral health if you’re not careful. Eating foods laden with sugar and refined carbohydrates puts you at risk for tooth decay, erosion, and periodontal disease.
Poor Oral Hygiene
Stress can affect your mood and distract you from taking proper care of yourself. Oftentimes, our responsibilities have us rushing through each day. By the time the sun goes down, you’ve forgotten (or are too exhausted!) to brush or floss your teeth.
Whether you’re stressed or not, neglecting your oral hygiene can put you at greater risk for developing gum disease. Long term stress only increases that risk because it compromises your immune system, which will eventually take its toll on your body.
It’s important to be aware of what’s causing stress in your life and how it’s affecting you. When you’re busy taking care of everyone else, it’s hard to sometimes give yourself permission to stop and evaluate whether your own needs are being met.
It’s important to your oral and overall health to invest in keeping your mind, body, and spirit all working in harmony.
How Can You Decompress?
Everyone deals with stress differently, but some of the ways you can try to reduce stress and its impact on your health are:
-Practicing yoga or meditation: Stretching or deep breathing, even for just a few minutes each morning, is enough to help you relax and ease into the day.
Taking a couple of minutes during your lunch break or right before you go to bed can help keep your mind and body more relaxed.
-Talk to a friend or a counselor: Sometimes, just talking to a friend about our day can help alleviate some of the stress we carry around with us.
However, depending on your situation, it may be better to seek the help of a professional counselor to help you sort through things in your life that may be contributing to your stress.
-See your dentist: Keeping up good oral hygiene means remembering to schedule your routine checkups. Call us at 609-752-3293 or fill out our online form to schedule an appointment.
Ask Dr. Ricciardi to exam you for signs of teeth grinding or TMJ disorder. He offers teeth grinding treatment that can help prevent further wear on your teeth and to help your bite feel more comfortable.
Don’t let stress threaten your smile. Call us today and let us help you protect your smile!