Tooth loss not weightloss key concern for women over 35

Image by Female First

Whilst losing a couple more pounds may be a wish for some women, a new survey has found that  over 80% of women are worried about tooth loss and oral health, with weight gain a secondary concern.

The survey from UltraDEX found that women over 35 said that losing teeth and having healthy teeth and gums were two of their top health concerns. Results also showed that more women than men visited the dentist regularly, with 78% visiting the dentist at least once a year, compared with just 65% of men.

Despite this level of concern, the survey found that 35% of the women surveyed admitted that they only make an effort with their oral health regime in the immediate days and weeks before and after a visit to the dentist.

Bal Chana, a dental hygienist and therapist and President of the Dental Therapy Association said: “Most people remember to brush their teeth daily but may not be concerned about which toothpaste they use, and certainly concern about oral health is not mirrored by investment in a good regime to protect teeth. In fact, most people upgrade their mobile phones more often than their oral health regime.

Bal’s top tips for a healthy smile are: use a clinically proven, premium oral care range; brush twice a day for at least two minutes with a fluoride toothpaste; use floss or interdental brushes and an alcohol-free mouthwash; avoid sugary and acidic food; and visit a dentist and a hygienist and/or therapist regularly.”

Read more: http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/health/tooth-loss-key-concern-for-women-473299.html#ixzz335KbHTse

Take snoring seriously

SNORING is considered irritating and many people do not know that it is a sign of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), a common medical disorder that is potentially life-threatening and has far-ranging implications.

People who have OSA stop breathing repeatedly during sleep because their upper airway collapses. This causes them to experience constant sleep disruption, snoring loudly or even gasping or choking during sleep due to apneas (pauses in breathing).

The upper airway collapse may be due to decreased muscle activity, increased tissue around the airway or structural features that lead to a narrowed airway.

As a result, air is prevented from getting into the lungs, carbon dioxide levels in the blood rise and sleep is disrupted. These pauses in breathing can happen as many as 30 times or more an hour, leading to chronic poor quality sleep.

Do snorers realise that they may face this health problem?
Unfortunately, there are still many people around the world who view snoring as normal and not a problem. Sometimes, it is believed to indicate sound sleep and snorers are perceived as people with robust health. I do my best to change these erroneous perceptions by sharing information on sleep disorders with healthcare professionals around the world.

What is the prevalence of OSA among Malaysians?
Research indicates that on average, OSA affects 24 per cent of Malaysian males and nine per cent of Malaysian females. Alarmingly, 80 per cent of these sufferers do not know they have OSA and leave the condition untreated. Overall, it is estimated that as many as three million Malaysians suffer from OSA, mainly undiagnosed and untreated.

How should the healthcare system address this situation?
There is a huge need to train physicians and nurses in this country to diagnose sleep apnea and to treat the disorder. Currently, there are only 10 specialised sleep physicians in the country, plus a few dozens doctors who treat sleep disorders on a part-time basis. In general, medical students and other healthcare professionals are not sufficiently educated on sleep disorders such as OSA and doctors rarely ask patients if they are getting quality sleep, thus the chronic problem persists.

What are the effects of OSA on those who suffer from the condition?
Due to lack of quality sleep, people suffering from OSA typically experience excessive daytime sleepiness. They tend to fall asleep during routine activities, have poor concentration, suffer frequent headaches and are often irritable. The long term impact is serious and wide-ranging. Without good sleep, the human body is unable to grow, recuperate, heal and regenerate.

Brain function, the metabolic rate, energy balance, the immune system are all adversely affected.
Untreated OSA may put sufferers at risk of a number of life-threatening conditions, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms, Type 2 diabetes, depression, learning impairment and memory loss. In children, brain development and learning ability are compromised.

Are there risk factors for OSA?
Although OSA is more common in people who are obese or have a large neck, or crowding of the upper airway, it can occur in men, women and children of all ages and sizes. Most people who have OSA do not realise that they suffer from the condition. It is often the bed partner or family member, who notices the signs of the condition.

For children who have the condition, the majority of them develop the disorder when they are 6 to 8 years old. While more men than women have OSA overall, menopause causes the percentage of women with OSA to rise.

Heavy smokers and drinkers, and people above 45 years, are also more likely to develop the condition. Genetics too is a factor. Nevertheless, those who are young, thin and healthy should not disregard possible signs of OSA as they too can also suffer from the disorder.

How is OSA diagnosed?
The sleep specialist will determine the most suitable screening or diagnostic test. For a definitive diagnosis, an overnight sleep study is carried out, usually at a sleep centre. The safe and painless study monitors your sleep, respiratory parameters and heart activity.

How is OSA treated?
Many ways are used, from simple measures such as weight loss, avoiding alcohol in the evening and sleeping on your side to invasive and non-invasive medical treatment such as upper airway surgery, dental devices and the commonly used and most effective — continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).
This method provides a continuous non-invasive gentle flow of air through your nose using a CPAP mask to prevent upper airway collapse and allows you to breathe more easily while you sleep.

EXTRA RESOURCES

PHILIPS has made several Internet-based tools available to share knowledge on sleep medicine such as the Sleep Power Quotient quiz to grade a person’s quality of sleep.
Upon completion of the Sleep Power Quotient quiz, any individuals with results that point to poor sleep habits will then be invited to take an online risk assessment test to determine their risk level for OSA.
Those at high risk for OSA will be directed to follow up with their healthcare provider.


Read more: Take snoring seriously - Health - New Straits Times 

Red wine can fight dental cavities: Study

Image via The Health Site

Red wine has a host of health benefits because of resveratrol, the compound it has in abundance. And now, researchers have shown that it can help fight dental cavities too!

M. Victoria Moreno-Arribas and colleagues explain that dental diseases are extremely common throughout the world. Cavities, periodontal disease and tooth loss affect an estimated 60 to 90 percent of the global population. The problems start when certain bacteria in the mouth get together and form biofilms, which are communities of bacteria that are difficult to kill. They form plaque and produce acid, which starts damaging teeth.


Brushing, fluoride in toothpaste and water and other methods can help get rid of bacterial plaques, but the effects are limited. In addition, currently used antimicrobial rinses can change the color of the gums and alter taste, so people are less likely to use them for as long as they should. Some research has suggested that polyphenols, grape seed extract and wine can slow bacterial growth, so Moreno-Arribas’ team decided to test them under realistic conditions for the first time. 


They grew cultures of bacteria responsible for dental diseases as a biofilm. They dipped the biofilms for a couple of minutes in different liquids, including red wine, red wine without the alcohol, red wine spiked with grape seed extract, and water and 12 percent ethanol for comparison. Red wine with or without alcohol and wine with grape seed extract were the most effective at getting rid of the bacteria. The study has been published in the ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 


Source: 
ANI
The Health Site

Energy drinks, frequent meals mean bad oral health for athletes

Faster, higher, stronger they may be, but Olympians wouldn’t win many medals in a contest of dental health. Behind their buffed physiques lurks a dentist’s nightmare.

“They have bodies of Adonis and a garbage mouth,” says Paul Piccininni. As dental director for the International Olympic Committee, the Toronto-based Piccininni is intimately familiar with the broken teeth, abscesses, decay and other dental issues that force hundreds of Olympians into dentists’ chairs at every Games.

Among them Michael Jordan. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, where basketball’s superstar in the making was top scorer on the gold-medal-winning U.S. team, Jordan “had a significant dental problem that could have kept him out of a game,” Piccininni told the Associated Press in an interview at a conference on sports injuries.

The AP sent Jordan a text message to ask about the tooth issue, but he didn’t respond. Piccininni, bound by medical secrecy requirements, also wouldn’t give details.

“I know, but I shouldn’t say,” Piccininni said. “We’ve seen the best of the best.”

Honing their bodies through intense physical effort, athletes refuel with energy drinks, gels and bars and frequent meals, which teeth don’t like. Dehydration from sweating can also cut the production of saliva needed to regenerate tooth enamel.

Some rowers, for example, have “huge amounts of decay” because they’re training in boats for hours at a time, refuelling with teeth-eroding acidic, sugary drinks, said Tony Clough, who set up the dental clinic for Olympians at the 2012 London Games. Located in the athletes village, it had 30 dentists and 1,900 visits.

“We had patients coming in at 10:30 at night to have root canals and things like that,” said Clough.

A study that looked at 278 of the clinic’s visitors found 55 per cent had cavities and three-quarters diseased gums, mostly gingivitis but also 15 per cent with more serious periodontitis. One-quarter said dental problems affected their quality of life. The British Journal of Sports Medicine published the study last September.

“The oral health of athletes is worse than the oral health of the general population,” Piccininni said. “Considerably worse.”

An abscessed lower-left wisdom tooth threatened to keep British rower Alan Campbell from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The infection spread to his shoulder, back and eventually settled in his right knee, requiring surgery two months before the games and ruining his training. He placed fifth in the Olympic single-sculls final and feels that he “certainly would have gone quicker” had the infected tooth not laid him so low, keeping him out of his boat for six weeks.

At the London Games four years later, Campbell won bronze. He’s certain that taking better care of his teeth has helped him row faster. He says he now flosses more, tends to drink water rather than sugary drinks, is “more aware of how important dental hygiene is to me and my body” and “if I thought I had any problems I would just have a tooth removed.

“I’m not saying someone with perfect teeth is going to beat Usain Bolt,” Campbell said in a phone interview with the AP. “But myself with good dental hygiene versus myself with bad dental hygiene: The version of me with good dental hygiene will be the one that comes out on top, I’m certain of it.”

Generally, teeth are most at risk among people ages 16 to 25, when they fly the family nest, perhaps party more and brush less, Clough said. That’s also the age group of many Olympians, which helps explain why so many have problem teeth.

But other suspected causes appear more athlete-specific. Frequent travel for competition or training can get in the way of regular dental check-ups. The wear of long flights might also be a factor, because Olympic dentists see “a huge big leap” in dental infections in the first week of the Games, said Clough.

Clenching teeth during strenuous effort, like lifting weights, can also grind them down.

“You could land the Space Shuttle” on some athletes’ teeth, said Piccininni. “Flat as a pancake. They have worn it down so much.”

Rowers breathe up to 80 times a minute in competition, and burn through 6,000 calories and eat five times a day, Campbell noted.

“A lot of pressure is going through the mouth,” he said. At the Athens Olympics in 2004, “I was grinding my teeth in my sleep and I was waking up with a very sore jaw and sore teeth as well and I had a special gum-shield to wear at night to sleep with.

“That was the stress. It was my first Olympics. I was quite young. I was 21. I think I was feeling the pressure,” he said.

The 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic clinic will have eight dental chairs, X-ray machines, root-canal specialists and surgical facilities. There will be full-time dentists at hockey, rugby and basketball for any injuries. The clinic will also distribute mouth guards. They handed out 350 in London and 150 at the Sochi Winter Olympics this February, including to four Austrian ice-hockey players after a teammate lost a tooth in their first game.

Treatment is free.

Some Olympians “know they’ve had a dental problem for three weeks or a month or three months, but they know if they can hold off until they get to the Games they get it treated for free,” Piccininni said. “That’s fine. That’s one of the reasons that we’re there, is because athletes don’t have the financial resources.”


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5 dental myths that may be hurting your health

Image Via FoxNews

Research shows that your teeth can speak volumes about your overall health, so it’s important to be informed when it comes to taking care of your mouth.

Dr. Manny Alvarez, senior managing health editor for FoxNews.com, recently sat down with Dr. Gerry Curatola, founder of Rejuvenation Dentistry in New York City to debunk some common dental myths that could be hurting your health.

We’ve all heard it growing up:  Sugar will rot your teeth. But while sugar can lead to cavity formation – as well as a variety of other health maladies – it’s not the real culprit when it comes to tooth decay.

"This is a myth in a sense because sugar, while being 'the gasoline in the tank' is not the cause of tooth decay. It's actually acids from bacteria that have gone to the dark side,” Curatola told FoxNews.com. “We talk about good bugs and bad bugs; bad bugs are actually an unhealthy expression of natural bacteria in the mouth.”

“Bad bugs” are formed when you digest carbohydrates. Refined sugar is an example, but other carbohydrates can include healthy foods like vegetables, fruits and grains. These “bad bugs” produce acid in your mouth that, when combined with saliva, result in plaque formation.

Teeth whitening will damage your enamel.

The key ingredients in over-the-counter whitening products are hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide, which work as oxidizing agents to remove stains on the surface of the enamel. White strips, trays and pastes meant for at-home use usually contain about 3 to 10 percent of these active ingredients and are generally considered safe. Curatola noted as with everything, moderation is important.  

“Really, the safest teeth whitening is done under the supervision of a dentist or a dental hygienist in a dental office … There's a lot of over-the-counter products that can damage your enamel,” said Curatola. “If the product is too acidic, the product is too strong …  Overuse or misuse of these products can cause the enamel to get fragile and even more porous. These are the kinds of things that really need more regulation, and they can be damaging, but teeth whitening by itself is a safe treatment.”

One of the most common side effects of whitening your teeth, whether done in a dentist’s office or at home, is tooth sensitivity. Research out of Ohio State University College of Dentistry has shown that some enamel loss is possible when using bleaching agents, but sometimes, enamel has been found to remineralize itself over time.

Silver fillings don’t need to be replaced.

One of the most hotly debated issues among dentists these days is whether or not old, silver amalgam fillings in the mouths of so many Americans are safe.  

“A lot of patients are not even informed that silver-colored fillings are actually 52 percent mercury,” said Curatola. “There's also research – and it's proven that mercury leeches out over time from these silver fillings – more if you drink hot liquids and chew things. My opinion is that I don’t think any amount of mercury is good, and especially if [these fillings are] breaking down, they should be replaced.”

Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that at certain levels has been linked to autoimmune diseases, neurological issues, chronic diseases and even mental disorders.  One concern among dental professionals is that people with amalgam fillings who grind their teeth, chew gum and drink hot or carbonated drinks could be exposed to a dangerous level of mercury vapors.

Mouthwash with alcohol is good to use.

The use of mouthwash containing alcohol has been linked with oral cancer since the 1970s. But more recent research has questioned the association, citing that many study participants who frequently use alcohol-containing mouthwash were drinkers and smokers, making it hard to establish a definitive cause-and-effect outcome. But Curatola warns that frequent use of these mouthwashes can lead to other dental problems.  

“Mouthwash should not have alcohol,” said Curatola. “Alcohol is dehydrating and denaturing to this natural ecology of the mouth called the oral microbiome.”

Wisdom teeth serve no purpose.

Wisdom teeth are a product of evolution that got their name from the time that they appear in your mouth – usually between the ages of 17 to 25. It is thought that the coarse food our ancestors ate caused the jaw to grow larger and stronger, allowing for more teeth in our mouths. But over time, our jaws began to shrink to make way for our growing brains, leaving many people with overcrowded mouths and painful impactions when their wisdom teeth break through.   

“Wisdom teeth are called vestigial organs, like your tonsils and your appendix,” said Curatola. “I don't think every child should have their wisdom teeth ripped out, but I do believe that we are finding an intraspecies evolution where wisdom teeth are not having room to erupt, and if they are malpositioned, they can cause problems [like] cysts in the jaw, infections and pain.”

If your wisdom teeth are not causing you any problems, you may want to think about leaving them where they are. Research out of Japan shows that the pulp inside your molars contains stem cells similar to those found in bone marrow. Some experts say that banking those stem cells could lead to the ability to regrow teeth in the future.  

Source:

Fox News

How good TEETH are the new sign of social status - and your ticket to a better job

The old saying goes that you're never fully dressed without a smile.

But it now seems it's not so much about the smile as the teeth beneath it.

According to a top social scientist, where we now stand in society is becoming increasingly dependent not on our education or our upbringing - but on the state of our gnashers. 
Malcolm Gladwell, the writer behind David and Goliath, says teeth are becoming the new benchmark of inequality.

According to the writer, those with bad teeth are also given a lower chance of success - because they are 'denied' certain 'entry-level' jobs. 

He told the Times: 'That's kind of the way we're moving as the gap between the fit and the unfit grows.
'The teeth thing and the obesity problems are the same: they are symptoms of the same set of inferences that are being drawn.

'I think those kinds of physical characteristics - that's completely the next wave of discrimination.'
The comments follow an increasing trend of celebrities and reality TV stars paying to have work done to their teeth. 

The range of work includes tooth whitening using bleach, veneers and even implants in which titanium spikes are put into a person's jaw.

Experts fear that while those with  money can pay to give themselves sparkling Hollywood smiles, those from poorer backgrounds can not afford to give their teeth the same treatment.

Results from the Government's Health and Social Care Information Centre also seem to back up Mr Gladwell's comments.

Statistics from the centre show one fifth of hospital admissions for dental treatments in 2011 were for patients from the most deprived 10 per cent of the population in England.

The figures also show that there were three times as many patients aged between 0 and 29 having treatment than those aged over 60 - when teeth are traditionally in worse decline.

A poll conducted last year by VisionCritical also found that people see whiter teeth as an indication of wealth.  

The survey showed that people with whiter teeth were thought to earn £10,000 more on average than they actually did. 

Sparkling teeth also made them look up to five years younger and improved their employment potential by 10 per cent, results showed.

Eddie Crouch from the British Dental Association also told the paper there was also a noticeable gap between middle-class teenagers able to afford to have braces fitted while those from deprived areas could not get the same treatment.

He said: 'Huge numbers of those kids that are referred to us from socially-deprived areas can't have the treatment they need because their overall standard of dental health is too poor.'


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Does ‘Oil Pulling’ Really Give You Whiter Teeth, Better Skin?

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Coconut is the hot commodity at the Eastside Co-Op in northeast Minneapolis.

“It’s in everything now,” said grocery manager Brandy Scheidecker, pointing to coconut milk, coconut water, even a coconut candy bar.

It’s on labels in every aisle, but she says jars of raw coconut oil are the most popular.

“I think it’s because they have heard that it is a healthier oil for you to consume,” she said.

People cook with it, melt it over popcorn and use it as a moisturizer, but the most unusual thing they do with it, is swish it. Fifteen minutes a day, five days a week.

The internet is full of stories about oil pulling, an ancient practice, meant to pull toxins out of the body. Stories about whiter teeth, clearer skin, better breath and so much more.

Kelsey Schwartz swishes a few times a week.

“It’s like putting oil in your car where it just kind of pulls that grime out,” she said.

The oil goes from solid to liquid when it’s in your mouth, because of body heat. Schwartz admits it’s a bit gross, swishing and then spitting, but she loves the results.

“I’ve noticed my teeth have gotten whiter, and my skin has gotten clearer,” she said.

She has plenty of friends who have tried. But not her mother.

“I mean, my mom is an RN,” she said, “so she’s like, ‘it doesn’t work, blah, blah, blah.’”

“I don’t know about whitening the teeth,” said Dr. Benjamin Baechler, a family medicine physician at the University of Minnesota, “but preventing bad breath and promoting overall gum and oral hygiene, certainly.”

Baechler sits of the board of Center for Spirituality and Healing. He says coconut oil is healthy, because it contains important minerals and phytonutrients, and that oil-pulling has its benefits, but most of them are overstated.

“We don’t have any scientific evidence that oil pulling detoxifies the body or provides a facial rejuvenation component,” he said, but “it’s amazing when patients take action for their health how we see their health improve.”

Two tips, if you want to try it. First, warm up the coconut with a hair dryer, so it’s already liquid when you put it in your mouth. Second, don’t spit it out in the sink. The oil will harden at room temperature, and plug up your plumbing.

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Dental care: Tennessee’s forgotten health crisis

( Photo: File / Gannett Tennessee )

Last week I examined a 29-year-old woman who had never before seen a dentist. As I probed her mouth she reacted with a battery of questions: What are you doing? What’s that for? How does it look?

It looked awful. Her teeth are decayed, her gums are compromised from periodontal disease and she suffers from significant dental pain, which led to the visit.

Such cases are far more common than you might imagine. Every week I treat patients in their 20s whose mouths are filled with decay, after years of ignoring their oral health. Some, like the woman described above, grow up without dentists, and as adults suffer from “dental phobia.” So rather than visiting a dentist they rely solely on emergency room visits for pain relief, which adds to congestion and unnecessary expense at our hospitals.

The sad fact is Tennessee is experiencing a serious dental health crisis. Over one-third of the population in our state did not visit a dentist in the past year, nearly one-third (31.5 percent) of Tennesseans over the age of 65 have lost all their teeth, and more than half (53 percent) have lost six or more teeth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A key cause of this problem is a shortage of dentists. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services categorizes 94 percent of Tennessee counties (89 of 95) as having dental health professional shortage areas.

Far too many in our community are not gaining access to dental care despite the efforts of committed dental professionals and social service organizations. Case in point: It took just a few minutes to book every available appointment for a recent Saturday at 11 Aspen Dental offices in Tennessee that volunteered a free day of dental services for those in need as part of the Healthy Mouth Movement.

Many graduating dentists are attracted to the wealthy major metropolitan centers on the coasts, leaving states like Tennessee with a shortage of dentists. Even with a fine dental school in Nashville at Meharry Medical College, where I received my degree, we have not been able to fill the gap.

Sadly, dental care is a neglected, often ignored, health care service. Because tens of millions of Americans lack dental insurance or have inadequate coverage, dentistry is widely regarded as discretionary, a “luxury” and not a necessity. When forced to choose between the urgency of fixing the car that you need to get you to work every day and a preventive visit to the dentist, guess which demand on the pocketbook wins out? It’s a sobering reality, but when times get tough — as they did for so many during the Great Recession — people put off visits to the dentist.

The situation must change. An increasing number of dentists like me are opting to buck the tradition of “going it alone” and working with dental support organizations that provide “back office” business services, allowing dentists not only to offer care at lower prices, but also to spend more time with patients.

For too many people, teeth are simply not important until they hurt. But the fact is dental care is an essential health care service. No American should grow up without regular visits to a dentist.

Source:
The Tenessean

5 Tips to Stop Tooth Grinding

Do you grind your teeth? If you're like most Americans, you probably do, but you may not even know it. I spoke to Dr. Andrew Greenberger, a periodontist and participating Delta Dental dentist, who shared the facts about tooth grinding, known in the medical community as bruxism, including what we can do about this damaging habit. 

"It's common for people to grind their teeth," said Dr. Greenberger. "That's because it's a normal function of our mouths. Some of us just move our lower jaws. But some of us clench and move our jaws in a way that our teeth become affected. That's when problems can occur. You can wear down your teeth from the forces of grinding. You also can wear down the joint that holds the lower and upper jaws together. When that happens, the bone structure begins to dissolve."

"But that's not all that can happen," he added. "When teeth lock together, the muscles in the jaw stay tense. This leads to pain and disruption of the jaw joint, and can cause Temporomandibular Disorders, better known as TMD."

Signs of bruxism, or tooth grinding, may include:

Tips of the teeth appearing flat

• Tooth enamel rubbed off, causing extreme sensitivity
• Popping and clicking of the jaw
• Tongue indentations
• Chronic headaches
• Jaw or facial pain

While grinding and clenching are damaging to our natural teeth, Dr. Greenberger told me that those actions may do even more damage to implants. "That's because implants don't have the same shock absorbers our natural teeth have," he said. 

Unfortunately, there is no cure for bruxism. But there are ways to make sure that grinding your teeth doesn't harm your oral health. Dr. Greenberger offered the following tips:

Tip #1: Reduce your stress. Up to 1 in five people may be grinding their teeth due to stress. In fact, there's a whole month dedicated to it—April is National Stress Awareness Month. Take time to relax and unwind. Get enough sleep so you won't feel irritable, and exercise to release some of that tension.


Tip #2: Remove caffeine from your diet. It's a stimulant that makes it more difficult for your mind and your muscles to relax.

Tip #3 Avoid alcohol. Alcohol is a depressant that may make it more difficult to get a good night's sleep. Teeth grinding can sometimes get worse after alcohol consumption.

Tip #4: Practice relaxing your jaw during the day. If you feel yourself clenching, place the tip of your tongue between your teeth.

Tip #5: See your dentist. He or she can tell you if your tooth grinding is creating potential problems. If so, your dentist can provide you with tips to help you stop grinding your teeth. He or she can also fit you with a nighttime oral appliance that protects your teeth.

It's important to stop the harmful effects of teeth grinding as soon as possible. Protecting your oral health goes a long way toward protecting your overall health.


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Link found between poor dental health and depression

Using data from a comprehensive health survey of more than 10,000 people aged 20—75 years living in the United States, the Deakin IMPACT Strategic Research Centre researchers found that poor dental health (as measured by the number of dental conditions a person had) increased the likelihood of being depressed.

“Not only did we find a connection between dental health and depression, we also demonstrated that a dose-response exists between the two conditions, meaning that the more dental conditions one had the greater the severity of their depression,” said Deakin’s Dr Adrienne O’Neil.

“This relationship held true even after accounting for other factors that could potentially
 explain the association, such as high body mass index and CRP, a protein that is often used as a general marker of inflammation in the body.”

Depression is considered an inflammatory disorder, meaning that sources of inflammation such as bad dietary habits, being overweight or the presence of other medical conditions can contribute to the biological processes that induce mental disorders from a very early age. Poor dental health, which is a source of inflammation, has not been investigated extensively in the context of its links with mental health. The researchers therefore analysed the data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from the United States to investigate the possible connection.

They found almost two thirds of participants reporting depression (61 per cent) also reported having an aching mouth in the past year and more than half (57.4 per cent) considered their teeth to be in fair or poor condition.

While the researchers were able to demonstrate that depression is linked to poor dental health, through this study they were not able to determine why.

“The relationship between dental health and depression is not well understood, with previous studies investigating poor dental health as a by-product of depression, rather than a precursor,” Dr O’Neil said.
“Although the results of this study provide only a snapshot of this association, they add to emerging theories around the importance of oral health and bacteria in mental health.

“This is an exciting area of research Deakin is exploring further with longitudinal data collected here in Australia. Specifically, we are currently conducting a study of how microbiota and the bacteria in the mouth, as well as the gut, may be related to inflammatory disease, including depression.

“If poor dental health is a risk factor for depression, this may have implications for depression management, as well as depression prevention from a public health perspective.




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