Lifestyle Stress
The amount of stress a person is under is directly related to the patient’s periodontal condition. Tissues deteriorate upon stress, and then they improve as the stress is relieved. Are dentists convinced that this is reality? Our experience indicates…not many.
However, when brought up as a major factor behind periodontal troubles, patients take it seriously and want more answers, like. . .
- Why hasn’t this been explained to me before?
- No one ever mentioned stress before.
- I knew it! I’m always stressed out just before gum surgery.
One of the quickest ways we dentists cause perio trouble is to measure a patient’s periodontal pockets, study the x-rays intensely, frown a few times at the patient’s mouth, and conclude with an appropriate diagnostic commentary:
“Hummm…. Let’s see… Oh my! This is terrible. From these measurements and our panoramic radiographs… it appears… that these teeth are on their last legs. See all the bone loss on your x-rays! I’ll have to do four surgeries, ah…ah… next month. Stop at the reception desk and Gertrude will take your full payment, today.”
On the other hand, there are few therapies more effective than a positive, encouraging comment to help patients deal with a situation for which they may carry much of the blame, and may not understand as well as a dentist. We can assure them that we understand periodontal disease… and that we can CONTROL and ELIMINATE it without surgery. This is a great start toward relieving all the stress.
It is evident with dentists around the world that we get so frustrated that we truly feel we cannot solve periodontal disease. Soon we professionals get lost in failures, or give up on hopeless “refractory” cases, or unknown “idiopathic” causes. Yet, patients easily understand that their dentist can’t do much about a patient’s stressful lifestyle. However, we can explain that stress can easily cause their condition. That’s enough to stimulate the patient’s self-defense mechanisms, which slow down their depressing, agonizing slide into surgeries and tooth loss.
We do have methods and materials to solve periodontal disease, without surgeries. We understand what factors cause it and how to deal with them.
We even dare to look at how dental work causes periodontal disease. How it affects the bite, and all the hard and soft tissues of the PERIODONTIUM.
Other Areas of Concern: