Blog Summary: Stress and oral health are closely connected. Ongoing stress can affect your teeth, gums, jaw, and daily oral care habits, sometimes leading to discomfort or increasing your risk of dental problems. In this article, you’ll learn how stress can show up in your mouth and what you can do about it.
- Stress may contribute to teeth grinding and clenching, which can lead to tooth sensitivity, jaw pain, headaches, and tooth damage.
- Dry mouth and changes in oral hygiene habits during stressful periods can make it harder to maintain a healthy mouth.
- Research suggests a connection between chronic stress and gum health, although stress alone does not cause gum disease.
- Persistent tooth or jaw pain shouldn’t automatically be blamed on stress; a dentist can help identify the underlying cause.
- Managing stress while maintaining consistent oral care can help protect your smile and overall well-being.
Can stress cause your teeth to be in pain? What about gum disease, can that be influenced by stress? And how about bruxism, or grinding your teeth? Unfortunately, yes, stress is one of the leading bruxism causes. Moreover, it can impact almost every facet of your health and well-being, including your dental health.
When you’re stressed, you might be surprised by the number of ways it can negatively affect your mouth. But before diving deeper into things like jaw pain from stress and the link between stress and gum disease, we should back up and discuss the overall effects of stress on the body.
How Stress Affects Your Body
We all know the telltale signs of stress. You might notice your heart beating faster than normal due to the increase in the stress hormone cortisol, and you might feel more tired and more worn out than usual. Or you might notice your skin breaking out or your hair falling out. These are all typical body responses to stress, but when stress is ongoing, it can affect your entire body more than you might realize. Chronic stress can leave a significant and lasting impact on your body.
Physical symptoms of stress can include:
- Increased heart and blood pressure
- Faster, more shallow breathing and increased asthma
- Muscles aches and pains, or flare-ups in joint conditions
- Flare-ups in autoimmune conditions or chronic diseases
- Stomachaches, digestive issues, or reflux
- Tightness and clenching in your shoulders, jaw, and face
- Breakouts, hives, skin rashes, or skin condition flare-ups
- Increased sweating and itchy skin
- Hair loss
In addition to noticeable physical symptoms, stress impacts your body in other ways.
Other symptoms of stress can include:
- A weakened immune system
- Anxiety and depression
- Reduced ability for enjoyment
- Lack of motivation for healthy choices
With all the ways stress can take its toll on your body, it should come as no surprise that stress can also have a negative effect on your dental health.
The Bodily Effects of Stress Also Affect Dental Health
Because stress can impact many aspects of your well-being, stress and oral health can be closely connected. Some effects of stress—including changes in immune function, mental health, sleep, and daily habits—may influence the health of your teeth and gums.
When you’re experiencing significant or ongoing stress, you may notice:
- Canker sores: These can show up inside your cheeks or lips, or along the gums. While they can be triggered by biting your cheek or poking your gums, they are exacerbated by stress.
- Imbalances of the mouth’s microbiome: Studies indicate that cortisol directly causes changes in the gene expression profiles of the oral microbiome which cause good microbes to change to bad microbes.
- Increased gum disease: Oral infections occur more easily when your immune system is compromised.
Additionally, anxiety and depression resulting from stress can cause:
- Dry mouth and burning mouth syndrome: This can result in an excess of bacteria, which increases oral infections, gum disease, and tooth decay.
- Jaw clenching: Tensing the muscles in your face and clenching your jaw can result in jaw soreness, headaches, TMJ, and even chipped or broken teeth.
- Nail-biting: Biting your nails introduces germs and bacteria from your hands to your mouth, making infections more likely. It can also damage your teeth and gums and move your teeth out of alignment.
- Tooth grinding: Grinding your teeth at night can cause damage to your enamel, and cracked, chipped, broken, or loose teeth. You may also experience headaches, a sore jaw, and increased sensitivity in your teeth.
- Poor oral hygiene: You may lack the motivation to take proper care of yourself or feel too busy to keep up with brushing twice daily, flossing daily, and eating a healthy diet. The result could be poor oral health.
Can Stress Cause Tooth Pain?
Yes, stress can contribute to tooth pain, although it may not be the direct cause. If you’ve googled “can stress cause teeth pain” or “can stress cause tooth pain,” then you might have already figured out that one possible explanation is stress-related clenching or grinding, AKA bruxism. Repeated pressure on the teeth can result in soreness, sensitivity, jaw discomfort, and headaches.
However, tooth pain can also result from cavities, cracked teeth, infections, gum problems, or other conditions. Don’t assume that a toothache is simply caused by stress, especially if the pain is severe, persistent, or worsening. In many cases, experiencing pain in your teeth is the sign of tooth decay, gum disease, or something else.
Combating Stress and Stress Habits That Impact Your Dental Health
If you’re feeling stressed, it’s helpful to start with reducing that stress however possible. Decrease your mental load, practice meditation, get more exercise, and get enough rest. Seeing a counselor or other mental health professional can also help you work through stress so you can begin to treat the symptoms. Until you’ve figured out the source of your stress, it’s unlikely to just go away. In the meantime, your stress symptoms, including dental issues, may get worse.
When stress is impacting your health, including your oral health, it’s essential to address it as soon as possible. If you notice that your stress is affecting your oral health, see your dentist right away. They can give you a full exam to identify any dental problems you may already be experiencing, and help you prevent further damage.
Depending on the effect your stress is having on your dental health, your dentist may recommend:
- A night guard: A dentist may recommend a night guard to help protect your teeth from damage caused by grinding or clenching. A night guard doesn’t necessarily address the underlying cause of bruxism, so it’s important to discuss your symptoms and potential contributing factors with your dentist.
- Massage therapy or physical therapy: Massage can help relieve headaches or jaw pain from clenching or grinding. Physical therapy can help you learn to hold your shoulders, head, and jaw in a way that doesn’t cause pain.
- Medication: Depending on the issues you’re experiencing, you may need pain medication, medication to ease inflammation in your jaw, or antibiotics if you have developed an infection.
- Dental work or orthodontic correction: If you’ve damaged your teeth by grinding, clenching, or biting your nails, you may need dental work to fix your teeth. Depending on the severity of the damage, your dentist may also recommend seeing an orthodontist for correction with your bite.
Don’t Hesitate to Seek Dental Care
Stress can wreak havoc on your oral health without ongoing oral hygiene at home and consistent dental care. However, even if you take great care of your teeth and see your dentist regularly, stress can impact your mouth. If your stress is impacting your dental health, don’t hesitate to see your dentist. They may be able to stop damage before it becomes severe and provide treatment options that help protect your mouth, even in times of stress.
From there, work on finding ways to relieve your stress to help preserve your overall health. For more information about the mouth-body health connection, follow dental expert Dr. Kami Hoss or get your copy of If Your Mouth Could Talk today.
