What no one told me about my oral health that really surprised me.
Until now, I had no idea how much my hormones factored into the health of my teeth and mouth as a woman. From menstruation to menopause, my hormones have wreaked havoc on my mouth and they continue to grab hold. No one told me. Not my friends, not my family, no one. I don’t think they knew. I’ve worked in healthcare for more than two decades and I’ve read many thousands of articles, papers, and health reports as part of my day-to-day job, but I didn’t know. That’s probably why these findings have come as such a big surprise to me all these years later.
Not only do I work in the dental health space, but like you – I’m also a consumer. I’ve spent a lot of time in a dental chair over the years, in part because of my failure to floss well in my youth and in part because of unlucky genes. I’m missing five adult teeth. They just never came in for whatever reason. I remember my mom saying that at least two of her adult teeth never surfaced. Fortunately for her, the gaps didn’t affect any of her front teeth like they did mine.
A few weeks ago, I met with my dental team to talk about replacing an old bridge – a casualty of my many missing teeth. It’s standard to take a bunch of photos of the mouth before doing any work, so we did. I’ve seen my teeth up close, from every single angle. Among the damage, the pictures showed that I’ve been grinding my teeth. It didn’t surprise me because I have teenagers, a father in failing health, and this time in my life has been particularly stressful. I did a sleep study through my dentist’s office to learn more. It opened the door to another health mystery that I’m still in the process of trying to figure out. Although the findings made me take a harder look at research on Women’s Oral Health for myself, what I found was far more interesting than the answers to my own health questions.
Watch the video here to learn a few surprising facts about women’s oral health.
Melanie Hill
Benevis, Content Lead
