Effects of Stress on Our Oral Health

The dental conditions that potentially arise from stress are the result of either bruxism or parafunctional habits. A parafunctional habit is one in which a patient uses the teeth and/or jaws for something aside from chewing. This could include someone biting her fingernails, a pen, pencil or opening packets and other non-food items. Stress-related dental conditions include the following:

• TMD – Temporomandibular Disorder occurs when there is a problem with one or both jaw joints (TMJs). TMD can include pain in the joints, limitation of movement of the lower jaw, clicking or popping sounds in the joints, or locking of the joints. TMD can be a serious condition that negatively impacts one’s quality of life. TMD treatment can include splint therapy, physical therapy, chiropractic care, anti-inflammatory injections in the joint, joint surgery, and bite equilibration.
• Cracked Teeth – Under the excessive forces of bruxism, back teeth often crack. Cracked teeth can cause sensitivity to cold and pain on chewing. If the crack enters the nerve it can cause an infection in the tooth or surrounding tissues and eventual loss of the tooth. Treatment for a cracked tooth depends on the extent of the crack. Those extending onto the tooth’s root give the tooth a hopeless prognosis, so it must be extracted and replaced. Others often require coverage of the tooth with a dental crown.
• Chipped Teeth – Many people with bruxism experience chipping of their teeth. This leads to jagged edges that can be sharp to the lips and tongue. It also creates a suboptimal esthetic appearance of the smile when those chips occur in the front teeth. Treatment depends on the extent of the lost tooth structure. Minor chipping may require smoothing only. Your dentist may need to rebuild the lost tooth structure with a tooth-colored filling material or a dental crown.
• Sensitive Teeth – Sensitive teeth often respond to desensitizing agents, such as toothpastes or gels. For some people, relief is only found through removing the heavy forces of bruxism by wearing a protective mouthguard.
• Receding Gums – Gum recession often results from heavy clenching and/or grinding due to the excessive forces applied to the teeth and the surrounding tissues. Gum recession is very difficult to treat. Most treatments aim to stop the recession from progressing. Reversing the recession and providing coverage of the exposed roots is not an easy thing to achieve. Through various gum surgeries, a gum specialist can provide “new” gum tissue coverage over the roots of teeth. It is essential to understand, though, that if you have not treated the underlying cause of the recession, treatments to reverse it are unlikely to succeed.