Down with the stress! Road to a healthy smile

According to Igor Lemberg, a dentist, Ph.D., Colgate Total expert, stressful situations and emotional “bursts” affect the state of the whole organism, including dental health.

Many may be surprised at this fact, but it really is. Let us examine in detail how stress affects oral health.
What makes stress with our teeth?

Under the influence of stress, a lot of "unplanned" processes occur in the body that can cause some fluctuations at the immune level and hormonal changes, and this, in turn, provokes a lot of problems, including in the oral cavity. Metabolic reactions begin to be disturbed, and due to a general decrease in immunity, the mucous membranes are actively colonized by pathogenic microflora, which contributes to the spread of bacteria.
But this is not the only result of the harmful effects of stress on dental health. The thing is that due to emotional stress, a person is subject to strong changes in behavioral habits. Let us consider in detail how exactly stress affects a person’s condition and how it affects the health of the oral cavity.
Teeth grinding, or, as doctors call it, bruxism. People are prone to this habit against the background of mental imbalance, nervousness and stress. Often a rattle can occur when a person is in a state of sleep. Over time, because of this, tooth enamel begins to break down and even problems with the jaw joints can begin, which entails many problems. In world practice, for the treatment of bruxism, both methods within the competence of the dentist (special mouth guards) and methods aimed at developing relaxation skills (hypnosis, psychotherapy, acupuncture) are used.
Habits and stress. A lot of people amid stress begin to abuse sweet or salty, as well as bad habits: they often smoke or drink alcohol. As a result, the flora in the oral cavity changes dramatically, barrier functions decrease, the number of beneficial bacteria on the mucous membranes decreases, and the number of pathogenic bacteria increases. Subsequently, an imbalance of the flora develops, which can provoke serious diseases such as, for example, bacterial stomatitis.
The habit of biting nails and other objects,especially when a person is in an excited / nervous state, it can become one of the causes of thinning of tooth enamel and, as a result, the occurrence of hyperesthesia (hypersensitivity) of the teeth. And the increased sensitivity of the teeth, as you know, greatly affects the quality of human life, since discomfort and pain are provoked by the most harmless factors: the intake of hot or cold food, fruit juices and even sometimes mouth breathing.

And of course, when a person is in a state of stress and apathy, he begins to neglect the indispensable daily rules: physical exercises, diet, and even thorough oral hygiene twice a day. Poor oral hygiene (or lack thereof) can lead to serious problems with the health of the oral cavity and even the entire body. Unfortunately, not all people, even in ordinary, everyday life, adhere to the rules of oral hygiene. What can I say when a bad mood or chronic fatigue deprives us of self-control. Often precisely for these reasons, we simply do not want to brush our teeth before going to bed and pay enough attention to taking care of ourselves.

How to find a way out of the situation?

Trying to minimize stressful situations is good advice, but not easy to implement, since we are all people, as they say. You still need to learn how to relax and have in your life activities or hobbies that will help you to be distracted from stress and will bring positive emotions. You can also consult a specialist who will prescribe sedatives, or a psychologist who will help cope with a stressful situation if you can’t do it yourself.
But as a doctor, I want to remind once again the most important thing: in a healthy body - a healthy mind. And the prevention of diseases, including the oral cavity, is a personal responsibility of everyone and a contribution to the best quality of their own life. And the prevention of oral diseases is based primarily on regular hygiene.
The main rules for the prevention of diseases of the oral cavity

• Brush your teeth at least twice a day

• Choose a quality toothpaste: for the prevention of caries, the toothpaste should contain fluorides, and for the treatment and prevention of gum disease - anti-inflammatory substances. Toothpastes based on the Triclosan / Copolymer formula have unique properties: the antibacterial / anti-swelling and anti-inflammatory effect in the oral cavity lasts for 12 hours, providing long-term protection of teeth and gums between brushing and even after eating.

• Use dental floss daily to remove plaque from the interdental spaces and along the gum line

• The additional use of rinse aid after brushing your teeth helps to remove bacteria from inaccessible places, surfaces of the cheeks and tongue and maintain fresh breath for longer. Clinical studies have shown that using a rinse aid, oral care is 3 times more effective (the number of bacteria decreases 12 hours after use compared to conventional toothpaste).


• Complex toothpastes protect against the main problems of the oral cavity that a person of any age can face. In order for oral care to be more effective, other hygiene products must be used, including mouthwashes, flosses and interdental brushes.


• Once every six months, visit your dentist for a professional brushing and oral examination.

These are the simplest but most effective recommendations that should not be forgotten under any circumstances, and then a healthy smile in both literal and figurative sense will be your constant companion. And as psychologists say, the habit of smiling makes a person happy.