Stress of daily grind takes toll on teeth

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37557066/ns/health-oral_health/

By Diane Mapes
msnbc.com contributor
updated 8:29 a.m. ET, Wed., June 9, 2010

The foreclosures, the financial meltdowns, the freaky environmental disasters — they’ve all become part of our daily grind.

But for some, that's not just a metaphor.

“I’ve gone several years without grinding but now it’s back,” says Betsy Riley, a 57-year-old program manager from Washington, D.C., who’s cracked five teeth and suffered a world of dental woes due to anxiety-provoked grinding. “All the stories about the economy, all the people who’ve lost their jobs. Plus every time you turn on the TV, there are mudslides, earthquakes, volcanoes.”

Grinding and clenching — otherwise known as bruxism — is indeed on the rise, say dentists across the country.

“I would absolutely say there’s been an uptick of about 20 percent in terms of the number of appliances or chipped teeth or things directly related to bruxism that I attribute to these stressful times,” says Manhattan dentist Dr. Michael Sinken. “I have a friend who has a practice that’s 90 percent TMJ. He says he’s absolutely seen an increase in business. People are hurting.”

Chewing over our problems
A recent study in the journal Head & Face Medicine found that sleep bruxism is more common with people who claimed to experience daily problems and trouble at work, a finding that hardly surprises former journalist Heather Draper.

“I was a business editor at a daily newspaper and had to cover the economy going into the crapper, at the same time realizing how bad it looked for my industry,” says the 46-year-old who now works as a nonprofit communications manager in Denver.

Looming layoffs and financial uncertainties (Draper was eventually laid off, forced to sell her house and take a job at a drastic pay cut) wore her down.

In turn, she wore her teeth down.

“I’ve done it for years — I have several crowns — but I’ve had a ton of anxiety in the last two years and it’s gotten worse,” she says.

Dr. Matthew Messina, a Cleveland-area dentist and consumer advisor for the American Dental Association, says his patients’ teeth are feeling the pressure, too.


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