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Dental Health Challenges Faced By Teens
The childhood time is exciting not only for the children but also for the parents. Parents love to see each of the activity performed by their children and they take complete interest in their health and wellness. However, this interest in children’s wellness gets reduced when those children turn into teenagers. Here, they usually fail to understand that children at this age undergo a lot of body changes which definitely have their impact on health, especially dental and oral health. Hence, it is quite essential to pay attention to their health at this level.
Hormonal change and risk of gingivitis
Gingivitis is the initial phase of gum disease and it is widely thought to be prevalent in adults. However, the matter of fact is that this problem is quite common in children and teens as well. While poor oral hygiene and other factors certainly play a role in the development of irritation in the gums that can lead to bleeding, this condition can also occur due to hormonal changes which take place when a person hits puberty. The pike in the levels of progesterone and estrogen can be considered as the top reasons for gingivitis. As a result, the kid doesn’t find it very comfortable to brush and floss.
Dietary changes
While it is great to have balanced diet, you will find it pretty hard to make your teenage children understand this simple fact. Hence, they are going to try out everything including fast foods and sweet treats to give their taste buds something to enjoy. This is the reason that teenage people are usually found to be very fond of foods which are high in carbs and sugars.
The immediate disadvantage of consuming such foods is that teeth start to become vulnerable against decay and cavities. Furthermore, some teenagers start to develop eating disorder which can turn out to be the main reason for enamel erosion.
Requirement to remove wisdom teeth
Another issue which the teenagers commonly face is the lack of room in their mouth for wisdom teeth. Hence, wisdom teeth may start to grow in wrong direction in most of the children. When it happens, the growing wisdom tooth pushes other neighboring teeth, leading to the intense pain which tends to remain permanent if the problem is left untreated. Therefore, the only solution left in these circumstances is the removal of wisdom tooth.
Mouth trauma due to sports activity
The most enjoyable phase of teenage can turn out to be a painful one when it results in dental trauma. It’s the capability to play different sports. The hard impacts can be pretty disastrous for dental integrity. Therefore, the easiest way is to use mouth guards before entering into the play field.
Apart from every precautionary measure you take care of in order to ensure better dental health of your teenage children, you also need to ensure their routine dental visits.
Things to Know About Teeth Grinding
About 40 million Americans grind their teeth. While most of us grind our teeth at certain occasions, it doesn’t result in any complications. Chronic teeth grinding, however, can be quite problematic in long term.
Knowing that you grind your teeth can be difficult. And so, you will not be able to know if you need any attention. Therefore, it would be worth mentioning some symptoms and causes of teeth grinding. We will also discuss some treatments for this problem.
Symptoms
Many people grind their teeth while sleeping. So, they do not realize that they grind their teeth until severe symptoms arise.
However, there are some subtle signs which you need to look at in this regard. Those signs include sore jaw, headache and/or sensitivity in the teeth while eating or drinking. Sometimes, other people around you may tell you that you grind your teeth at night.
Severe symptoms of teeth grinding include loose, fractures or worn down teeth. The underlying bone structure might also get damaged as a result of teeth grinding. You will be able to know about the level of damage with the help of dental x-rays.
Causes of teeth grinding
Stress and anxiety are the top reasons for teeth grinding. Misalignment of teeth is another reason in this regard as your teeth in upper jaw will not rest on the teeth in lower jaw. Treating misalignment is necessary because leaving it untreated can lead to the damage to your teeth, implants, bridge and dentures.
There are certain medications which can lead to the teeth grinding. Therefore, it is important to let your dentist know your complete medical history.
Complications
While occasional teeth grinding is not a threat, you will have to be careful about the chronic condition. Chronic teeth grinding can cause damage to the teeth and other restorative dental works. This problem can also result in the jaw inflammation which can be very painful. This problem is serious because it can change the shape of your face.
Treatment
To prevent teeth grinding, you can wear a mouth guard while going to bed. If the problem is serious, your dentist may prescribe you some muscle relaxant in order to keep your jaw muscles relaxed while you sleep.
A custom mouth guard is one of the best solutions that you can go for in order to keep teeth grinding from damaging your teeth and jaws. The best thing about custom-made mouth guard is that it can actually help you in treating the problem of teeth grinding. You can have a discussion about it with your dentist in this regard.