Friday 19 May 2017

How does Stress affect oral health?


Stress is something that we do have quite a bit f. often, life situations, problems in general, and the overall tension of life can make stress that much more obvious on your oral health along with your physical health. How does it affect it though? What can happen if you don’t see your Dentist Eagle Rock in order to have the best oral health when you’re stressed? Well, you’re about to find out.

The first thing that it does, is that you will start to develop bruxism. This is the habitual grinding of teeth and jaw clenching. For many, these are natural responses to stress and frustration. However, when people are stressed and are grinding their teeth, they’re often doing it in their sleep when they aren’t aware of the problem. If your jaw is sore, it might be a sign of bruxism.

Another thing that comes into play is TMD problems. If you have TMD, you typically have lots of pain at the jaw joint and the area around it, typically the ones that are used when you’re moving the jaw and the neck. This is very similar to bruxism in a sense, and often, bruxism can develop TMD, and often, the signs of this are clenching jaws, pain in the joints, headaches, and even a sort of popping and clicking sound that you might hear in the jaw. These are often caused by stress as well.


Your immune system also gets compromised when you’re stressed, and this leads to infections, not just in the body, but in the mouth as well. Some people will experience dry mouth, which then puts them at a much larger and higher risk to develop cavities. Often, others will have canker sores when they are stressed, which is painful but it does go away with time. However, it also can affect your gums, for if you are stressed, you could experience gum disease as well, which isn’t fun.

However, stress is often something that you can’t avoid. For many, stress is something that will cause a lot of problems for people, but typically life is full of a lot of stress and problems, but the best way to avoid any problems in your mouth is really to keep your oral health at the peak condition that you can. When you are stressed, it is essential to make sure that you do keep your oral health at its highest point possible, for it can help protect the mouth from any infections that you might get, or even the decay that could postnatally be there. You have to be vigilant about this, and make sure that you take care of yourself, especially during stressful situations.


Often, you might not even notice that you’re showing signs of stress until something happens, whether it be excess jaw pain, clenching, or even gum disease. It’s best to make sure that you take the time to take care of your oral health and brush twice a day, and floss at least once a day. You should also go to your dentist whenever you can, typically every six months, for they can check your teeth and see if there is something wrong. They’ll be able to tell right away if something is amiss, and from there they can help you solve any of the problems that you might have, and help to ensure that you’ve got the best oral health possible.


When it comes to life, stress is a natural part of it, and often, it can be quite hard for a person to continue on going with everything that is happening. Stress can affect your oral health, and the last thing you tend to think about is your oral health when you are under a lot of stress. But your oral health is very important, especially during times of stress, even more so than ever before since you’re opening your body to the potential for an infection as well. If that is the case, you should see your Dentist Eagle Rock whenever you can so that you’re able to remedy any problems that you might have, and from there, you’ll feel much better and happier too.