Today we suggest you learn a few simple habits and exercises that can help you improve your workday… and your smile… and your smile!
It seems like every decade has its health demons, from alcohol to fats to sugar, but one that never goes out of style is stress. With seemingly less time and fewer resources to achieve our goals, and a clear trend toward multi-tasking, it’s inevitable that more and more of us are stressed at home and at work.
Your family doctor may worry about your blood pressure, your physiotherapist may monitor your neck and back pain, but why should your dentist be concerned about your state of stress?
You may be surprised to learn that stress has a direct (and negative) impact on your teeth.
Here are the top five ways stress can affect your oral health:
1. You may grind your teeth.
Also called bruxism, grinding your teeth while you sleep is something you may not even be aware you’re doing, yet it can have serious knock-on effects, such as jaw and neck pain, headaches, tooth wear and even cracked or broken teeth.
2. You could develop temporomandibular disorder.
Clenching and grinding your teeth due to stress can lead to temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJD), which may require you to wear a mouth guard or even undergo additional dental treatment.
3. You increase your risk of gum disease.
Stress compromises your immune system, which means your body’s ability to fight bacteria is weakened. This opens the floodgates for gingivitis and its more serious cousin, periodontitis.
4. You can get mouth ulcers
There are many possible causes of mouth ulcers, but stress tops the list. Apart from being unpleasant and very annoying, ulcers should heal in about 15 days at the most and, if they do not disappear, visit the dentist to rule out other pathologies. In order to cope with the discomfort caused by mouth ulcers, you should avoid eating and drinking acidic, spicy or excessively spicy foods.
5. You are more likely to neglect your oral hygiene.
From lack of sleep, which makes us too tired to take care of our daily oral hygiene as regularly as we should, to stress eating and an increased craving for sugar, stress is simply a clear enemy of oral health.
o how do you reduce stress?
Just trying to find time in a busy day to de-stress can be stressful in itself – call it meta-stress! But don’t worry, there are plenty of ways to combat stress on a regular basis without taking too much time out of your day.
So how do you reduce stress?
Just trying to find time in a busy day to de-stress can be stressful in itself – call it meta-stress! But don’t worry, there are plenty of ways to combat stress on a regular basis without taking too much time out of your day.
Here are our three favorites:
1. Go on vacation (at the office).
No, we know a vacation isn’t on your agenda (or your budget), but close your eyes for five minutes and visualize where you would go if you could. Try to really “be” there, imagining the sights and sounds.
2. Breathe
Taking a series of deep breaths, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth, may take less than a minute, but it has a surprisingly calming effect.
3. Relax
Progressive muscle relaxation is a technique that involves tensing and relaxing all the muscles in your body, one at a time. You may not realize which ones were tense until you focus on them.
Let’s start saying goodbye to stress and take care of our oral health.
