When you are consistently under a lot of stress, your mind and body can feel as though you are literally being attacked. The feeling causes your body to go into high alert, elevating your blood pressure and heightening your senses in preparation for a fight, or a flight. Under prolonged stressful conditions, your health can begin to suffer from the ordeal. Though not as well-known as other issues, like high blood pressure and fatigue, several oral health concerns can also result from excessive stress.
Hygiene vs. Stress Factors
One of the ways in which stress can make daily life more challenging is that, depending on its cause, your stress factors may take up the majority of your concentration. When you’re constantly worried about something, you can neglect the little everyday things that should not be ignored, like brushing and flossing your teeth twice a day. Visits to the dentist can also fall by the wayside in the midst of your worry, and together, poor hygiene and neglectful dental care will almost guarantee more complex dental issues in the future.
The Tangible Effects of Stressed-Out Teeth
Besides the expenses of extensive restorative dental care due to tooth decay or gum disease, stress can have a direct effect on certain destructive dental health issues, including;
Bruxism
The clinical name for consistent, unconscious grinding of your teeth, bruxism can often result from overly tense jaw muscles due to stress and anxiety. The pressure and friction from bruxism can wear down your teeth’s surfaces, throwing your bite off balance as well as increasing your teeth’s risks of damage.
TMJ Disorder
A dysfunction with your jaw’s joints, TMJ disorder can result when your temporomandibular joints are exposed to too much stress/pressure. Sometimes, the same jaw tension that can lead to bruxism can also lead to damaged or inflamed jaw joints. The pain from TMJ disorder can include chronic headaches and earaches in addition to jaw discomfort, and its myriad symptoms can add to your stress until the condition is treated.
ABOUT YOUR LONGVIEW DENTISTS:
At DentaCare Dental in Longview, we focus on advanced technology, education, and comfort to offer every patient a pleasant experience and excellent dental care. To schedule a consultation, call our Longview, TX office today at (903) 758-5921. For optimal convenience, we also serve patients at our various other locations in Tyler, Garland, and Arlington, TX, as well as Bossier City, LA.