Guest post by Dr Fred Calavassy, Clinical Advisory Board Chair & Clinical Director at Maven Dental.
When you think about oral health and your teeth, do you find you see images of whitened teeth and great smiles? Very few people would connect oral health to their quality of sleep and the constant feeling of exhaustion.
While we are quick to jump on the latest supplement, meditation, or playlist to help us get those eight hours of sleep, we may be looking in all the wrong places. It could be as simple as a trip to the dentist.
If you have been struggling to get to sleep it may be time to ask yourself: Is it my oral health?
How to know if your oral health is affecting your shut eye
There are a few tell-tale signs that your oral health is disrupting your time in bed and you may be surprised how widespread they are!
A common contributing factor leading to a bad night’s sleep and linked to your oral health is grinding or “Bruxism”. Increased stress has been linked to Bruxism however, the long-term effects of Bruxism may have a significant impact on your oral health and disturb your sleep.
With the possibility of leaving you with fractured teeth, sensitive teeth, or even in extreme cases exposed nerves, Bruxism is may dramatically impact your oral health and wellbeing. Bruxism usually occurs in the early stages of sleep and may delay REM sleep and even causing you to wake up before you enter the deeper sleep cycle. The discomfort which results from Bruxism can also keep you up at night, preventing you from getting some much-needed rest and recovery.
If you have ever found yourself snoring loudly, gasping for air, or have woken up choking during the night, you may have a different condition – obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Occurring when the muscles back of your mouth, including your tongue and soft palate, relax and partially or even completely block your oral airway when you are asleep, OSA may contribute to two very common symptoms – snoring and dry mouth.
Not only will this lead to tiredness and lethargy during the day, but sleep apnoea has also been linked to high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes as well as mood disorders such as depression and anxiety, so definitely something to get on top of. Additionally, sleep apnoea may also contribute to Bruxism which may be your body’s way of activating the muscles and preventing your oral airway from blocking!
Check your breathing
Any issue with our breathing may affect our oral health and there is no doubt that this can affect our ability to have a peaceful sleep. While there will be times you have a bad night’s sleep, if you find this is happening more often than not, your nose or mouth could be the problem.
Mouth breathers – you may have something to worry about here. Mouth breathing can affect your oral health as well as your overall wellness, by contributing to a consistently dry mouth which may lead to a breeding ground for gum disease and tooth decay-causing bacteria. You may also find that you are waking up in the middle of the night to an unpleasant dry mouth – disrupting your precious sleep.
How to get back a good night’s sleep
The best way to get your sleep back on track is through a holistic approach to your oral health. While you may want a simple solution to fix your oral health specifically, there are many external factors which may be affecting it too.
Are you stressed before bed, consistently have a blocked nose, or make poor food choices? These will all impact your oral health and your ability to sleep.
Staying on top of your oral health with everyday routines is always a great place to start, so ensure you are brushing your teeth twice a day and flossing once a day.
Regular trips to the dentist are also recommended. Doing so helps to identify and treat underlying breathing or sleep issues. A good dentist asks questions and analyses your results to identify the root causes (excuse the pun!) of your oral health concerns to achieve total wellness. This holistic approach helps you to achieve the best results long-term, finding solutions that you can implement before any oral health problems develop.
Us Australians love to stay on top of our health and wellbeing, and sleep is an essential element of this. If your sleep is being cut short, start exploring whether your oral health is the cause – it may be easier to fix than you first thought.
