Anorexia and bulimia cause bad teeth

[Thelostchild]

:yuk: My cycles of bulimia and anorexia are causing my teeth to look awful. My two front teeth are uneven and turning yellowish it?s so gross. Is there some thing you can do on your own to help get ride of this icky appearance? Oh, is there any dental insurance?

 

[David Baxter PhD]

First, you get treatment for your eating disorder, TLC. As long as you are restricting and purging, any effort or money you spend on making your teeth look better will be wasted.

Once you have the ED under control, there are things you can do to recover from some of the damage.

 

[Daniel E.]

BTW, Colgate.com has some obvious advice for people with eating disorders: "Visit your dentist regularly; he or she can detect decay or infections."

Some less obvious advice from Colgate.com:

If you have severe tooth damage and are still undergoing treatment for bulimia, your dentist may be able to give you an appliance that covers your teeth and protects them from stomach acids.

Oral & Dental Health Basics: Bulimia

In anorexia, semi-starvation deprives the body of the nutrients it needs. Osteoporosis can develop, weakening the bones in the jaw that support teeth, leading to tooth loss.

Eating Disorders and Oral Health Problems

 

[Ashley-Kate]

that is pretty interesting that colgate wrote stuff about e-d's cause it is a main worry for many girls and boys with e-d's because purging and starvationn cause bad teeth ! that is one of my motivations to get betetr for my teeth! .
and as david said ! trying to fix your teeth while still purging or starving yourself is basicly pointless cause you will just sabatoge everything you did to make you teeth better the second you go back to e-d behaviors!
yours trully
ashley

 

[Daniel E.]

and as david said ! trying to fix your teeth while still purging or starving yourself is basicly pointless cause you will just sabatoge

BTW, the Colgate articles say something similar, saying that the eating disorder needs to be under control before cosmetic dental surgery.