Stress is a natural response to difficult situations. But when you suffer from chronic stress, it can have drastic effects on your overall well-being. Besides impacting your mental health, it can also take its toll on your physical health. In addition to these issues, stress can manifest in the form of dental health problems.
That is correct! If you undergo chronic stress without any resolution, it can cause your beautiful smile as well as your oral health to take a hit. As a result, it can lead to self-image and confidence issues that further add to your stress and create a vicious cycle of problems.
To help you take better care of your well-being, here is how stress can affect your oral health and what you can do to address it.
How Stress Affects Your Oral Health?
Stress can have a bad influence on your oral health in several ways. This includes the following effects.
Teeth Grinding
Stress may lead you to grind your teeth throughout the day, even when you are asleep. This could erode your tooth enamel and lead to damage to your teeth. Even when you start looking for a family dentist, not addressing the underlying problem can cause the issue to persist.
Gum Disease
If you suffer from stress, you can also expect your immune system to weaken. This can contribute to the development of gum disease, which can advance to periodontal disease and cause you to lose your teeth. While approaches like an intraoral scanner can help detection, prevention is the best cure in this case.
Dry Mouth
When you are under stress, the function of your salivary glands can get compromised. This can lead to a dry mouth, which itself can harbor the growth of bad bacteria. In turn, you can suffer from weakened teeth, bad breath, and several types of infections.
Poor Hygiene
While battling the effects of stress, you may not even want to look at your premium skincare kit, let alone use it. Similarly, fighting chronic stress can also cause you to turn away from brushing your teeth. This can lead to several dental health problems in the long run.
Canker Sores
Chronic stress can also cause you to develop canker sores in your mouth. These are small but painful ulcers that could take a few weeks to heal. If you don’t resolve your stress, it could continue manifesting in the form of this concern and add to your discomfort.
How Can You Reduce Stress?
Thankfully, you can save your oral health by following practices that effectively reduce stress. This includes the following tips.
Exercise
Regular exercise might seem like putting your body through stress, but it actually lowers your stress levels by maintaining your hormone balance. You can find different ways to workout like subscribing to a fitness library, taking lessons from a personal trainer, or hitting your local gym.
Meditation
If you haven’t tried meditation as one of the ways to stimulate your mind, it might be time to give it a try. When you meditate in a peaceful setting, it can help you let go of worrisome thoughts and allow your body to relax. This could significantly lower your stress levels.
Healthy Diet
What you eat can also have an effect on your level of stress. You can do your body a favor by opting for whole foods, fruits, and vegetables. When you reduce or eliminate your sugar intake, it can also work wonders for lowering your stress. With that, a healthy diet can directly improve your dental health.
Proper Sleep
A lack of proper sleep can also heighten your stress. In contrast, when you get at least 7-8 hours of sleep a night, it can help refresh your mind and body to control stress. If you have problems falling or staying asleep, you can try out solutions like a sleep program.
Therapy
Last, but not the least, therapy is a highly effective tool in resolving stress. With talk therapy, you can discuss with a professional what has been plaguing your mind. You can also reach out to a psychiatrist to determine if you can get help through medications.
By going through these details, you can understand how stress can get in the way of your oral health and how you can address this problem. This can help ensure that you protect your dental health and overall well-being from the dark shadow of unwanted stress.