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Dentists within the Washington, DC, space are seeing a rise in sufferers who’re coming in with damaged, chipped, or cracked tooth. One huge motive? Persons are extra burdened—and that may end up in them grinding their tooth or clenching their jaw.
“Once you’re carrying stress, the tooth are one of many main areas the place you’re shortly going to see that impact,” says Despina Markogiannakis, a dentist in Chevy Chase.
Whereas there might be different causes of this type of tooth injury—together with the negative effects of remedy—dentists noticed a comparable spike of instances through the Covid pandemic, and Markogiannakis suspects that nervousness is likely one of the fundamental culprits once more.
Leesburg dentist Atiyeh Emam is seeing not simply extra broken tooth, however one thing else sudden in her workplace: tears. “What I’ve seen previously couple weeks is the quantity of feelings and uncertainty that persons are going by proper now,” she says.
In keeping with the Mayo Clinic, the results of tooth grinding, or bruxism, are quite a few. Within the short-term, sufferers may undergo from damaged, flattened, or free tooth. Lengthy-term bruxism might be extra critical, typically resulting in the publicity of delicate tooth enamel, a locked jaw, or persistent ache within the face, neck, and mouth.
Bruxism is particularly widespread within the DC space as a result of, as dentist Mark Jefferies says, “persons are wired round right here.” Jason Cohen, a dentist in Chevy Chase, agrees: “There’s at all times been a problem with folks round right here clenching and grinding due to the stress of individuals’s jobs.” Or, extra just lately, the stress of dropping these jobs.
Dentist-recommended treatments for tooth grinding embrace mouth guards, stress-management workout routines, sleep research, and, in some instances, Botox injections across the jaw. When a affected person already has a bruxism-related fractured or chipped tooth, composite fillings or crowns are among the commonest therapies.
In current months, Emam says that she’s additionally seen sufferers who, nervous about dropping their jobs, are being extra frugal than standard. “They go together with therapy that’s much less concerned on the time, due to job uncertainty,” she says. “I had somebody break a tooth final week and ask for a filling as an alternative of a crown.”
On the flip aspect, she has additionally seen a rise in sufferers attempting to make use of their medical insurance whereas they’ll: “Persons are nervous that they’re going to lose their advantages and are coming in to get their tooth taken care of earlier than they don’t have work.”
