The Importance of Dental Hygiene

[locrian]

If you're anxious or depressed, or going through a major crisis, the last thing on your mind might be the health of your teeth and gums. As long as you can eat, drink, and talk OK, there's no problem, right? After all, your teeth and gums have been with you all your life, and they'll be there tomorrow and the next day. So why waste valuable time even thinking about bothering with them?

Well, in fact, the problem is that your mouth is a safe haven for all kinds of germs, and some of those germs do real damage. And the damage doesn't go away - it only gets worse and worse. A cavity that's untreated can destroy the tooth. Not cleaning your gums encourages the development and progression of gingivitis (gum disease) and eventually, periodontitis (more serious gum disease). If you continue to ignore the problem, the gum disease can progress to irreversible bone loss. When I recently visited my dentist, he was interrupted by a phone call from another dentist to discuss a bone graft for a patient who had lost most of the bone of their jaw. Studies have also linked gum disease to heart disease, and uncontrolled gum disease can make it harder to control diabetes.

Unfortunately, good dental hygiene requires a consistent commitment. You have to make the effort every day to brush and floss your teeth. Even if you just don't feel like doing it. Of course, this is a particular challenge to someone with clinical depression. In that case, I believe that therapy should include the patient's dental hygiene as a specific, stated goal. Because it really does matter.

 

[Retired]

I believe that therapy should include the patient's dental hygiene as a specific, stated goal.

I wonder whether dental care is included in the treatment protocol of mental health professionals when advising their clients or patients about their overall physical health care.

As long as you can eat, drink, and talk OK, there's no problem, right?

The logical extension of this would be the inability of someone who is depressed, for example, who might be having difficulty with apetite because of their illness, to have that difficulty compounded by dental or oral discomfort.

 

[Daniel E.]

When I recently visited my dentist, he was interrupted by a phone call from another dentist to discuss a bone graft for a patient who had lost most of the bone of their jaw.

And in menopausal women, it's a reason to maybe take hormones -- and certainly to get enough calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, and vitamin K -- to prevent bone loss and fractures from osteoporosis.

 

[bloodwood]

The logical extension of this would be the inability of someone who is depressed, for example, who might be having difficulty with apetite because of their illness, to have that difficulty compounded by dental or oral discomfort.

And typically, when we are depressed we don't always feel like doing our hygiene anyway.