{"id":890,"date":"2019-02-11T17:11:13","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T17:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/?p=890"},"modified":"2019-02-11T17:11:14","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T17:11:14","slug":"dig-deeper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/dig-deeper\/","title":{"rendered":"DIG DEEPER"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/7231614392_315a1bfab5_b-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"898\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=898\" class=\"wp-image-898\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/7231614392_315a1bfab5_b.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/7231614392_315a1bfab5_b-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/7231614392_315a1bfab5_b-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Disease is\ndefined as, \u201ca disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant,\nespecially one that produces specific signs or symptoms or that affects a\nspecific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury.\u201d\nSymptoms are those which are felt and signs are those which are seen. Disease\nmay show signs but no symptoms. Two areas dentists see signs of, often without\nsymptoms, are bruxism (grinding)\/clenching and GERD or gastroesophageal reflux\ndisease, causing chemical erosion of the teeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some people\npresent with symptoms relating to these two issues, but more often than not,\npeople do not have symptoms. Dental patients who present with signs of tooth\nwear or acid destruction are riskier to treat. Riskier because the \u201cissues\u201d are\noften times, and maybe even most often, not treated. This is a significant\nreason for tooth structure breakdown and shorter life-span of dental work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However,\nthat\u2019s not really what I wanted to highlight in this week\u2019s column. There are\nmany reasons why people have these two issues. Sometimes these problems are\npreventable with simple lifestyle changes; other times they need more\naggressive treatment because they are coming from the central nervous system or\nrelated to something else going on in the body. They can also be caused by\ncertain medications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In today\u2019s\nworld, everyone is being pushed to their limits in just about every aspect that\nyou can imagine. More is demanded with less time to accomplish. All this can\nbecome a source of stress, anxiety and even depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This\n\u201cepidemic\u201d spurred the development of newer medications with fewer side effects\nto help manage these conditions and hence, the SSRIs (selective serotonin\nreuptake inhibitors) were born in 1988. Since then, recent reports show that\nthe use of the SSRIs (i.e. Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, Celexa, Effexor, etc.)&nbsp;\nhas increased more than 400 percent!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dentists see\nthe signs of bruxism or clenching\/grinding of the teeth on a regular basis,&nbsp;and\nsome of it is the result of stress and anxiety. But another factor that we have\nto keep in mind is that patients are now taking more anti-anxiety and\nantidepressants than ever before in history. It is often overlooked, but the\nSSRIs and even some of the SSNRIs (Selective Serotonin Norepinephrine Reuptake\nInhibitors) often increase bruxism or clenching and grinding effects at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This leads to\npatients having an increased frequency of headaches, jaw pain and other\nsymptoms of clenching\/grinding. I have seen many patients who have presented\nwith increased frequency and intensity of symptoms shortly after the patient\nstarts on these medications. I have found that sometimes a change in medication\nor reduction in the dosage with the help of the prescribing medical doctor can\nhelp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sleep\nbreathing disorders, &nbsp;not necessarily\njust sleep apnea, can also be related to reflux and clenching\/grinding. These\nare often seen as defense mechanisms of the body against airway resistance.\nAgain, symptoms may or may not be present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You should\ncertainly discuss any symptoms you have with your dentist and physician. If you\ndon\u2019t have any symptoms but your provider can show you evidence of disease, be\nopen to digging deeper to try to determine the underlying cause. Everything is\nconnected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. St. Clair\nmaintains a private dental practice in Rowley and Newburyport dedicated to\nhealth-centered family dentistry. If there are certain topics you would like to\nsee written about or questions you have please email them to him at <a href=\"mailto:jpstclair@stclairdmd.com\">jpstclair@stclairdmd.com<\/a>.\nYou can view all previously written columns at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\">www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Disease is defined as, \u201ca disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, especially one that produces specific signs or symptoms or that affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury.\u201d Symptoms are those which are felt and signs are those which are seen. Disease may show signs but no symptoms. Two areas dentists see signs of, often without symptoms, are bruxism (grinding)\/clenching and GERD or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":899,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890\/revisions\/899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}