What are the risk factors for poor dental health? Is it because you refuse to visit the dentist regularly or you aren’t brushing your teeth enough? Maybe it’s because you eat too many candies and you dislike having to floss? Whatever reason you can think of, we bet that your job isn’t on that list. But similar to many things in our lives, our jobs and the stress they cause hurt our overall health, including our oral health.
Having wisdom teeth removal in Meridian or other cities, for example, can cause great stress for everybody. Add that to the fact that you’re already stressed out with the reports you need to be submitting while working on nagging tooth pain, and you’re a recipe for disaster. There are many occupations and job lifestyles that have a negative impact on the way you take care of your dental health.
Smoking
There’s a higher number of smokers in certain occupations such as mining, food service, construction, manufacturing, retail, real estate, allied health, and waste management. Either the companies are giving them additional breaks to smoke or the workers reduce stress by working. The point is that reducing the cigarettes you smoke every day will have a huge positive impact on your dental health. Not only is smoking the top reason for lung cancer, but it also causes gum disease, bad breath, and cavities.
Dehydration
Even people with desk jobs are at risk of dehydration. When there are too many reports to write and presentations to create, employees tend to forget to drink the required eight glasses of water a day. This leads to dehydration that causes tooth decay, bad breath, and gum disease. Those working in manufacturing, mining, forestry, agriculture, athletics, and firefighting are at risk of getting dehydrated.
Dental Injuries
Work-related dental injuries are common in the healthcare industry, as well as in athletics, transportation, mining, construction, and warehousing. They include chipped or cracked teeth, tooth loss, and jaw traumas. Workplace violence and accidents with heavy machinery are the usual causes of these dental problems.
Alcohol
People tend to drink more when they are stressed from their jobs in mining, construction, food service, housekeeping, journalism, arts and entertainment, music, gardening, and agriculture. Like smoking, drinking excessive alcohol can also cause oral cancer, tooth decay, and gum disease. When you drink and smoke at the same time, the risks are multiplied.
Tooth Grinding
Workers in construction sites have a huge possibility of grinding their teeth. This is called occupational bruxism since your work makes you grind your teeth. Those working in dentistry are also likely to have bruxism and temporomandibular disorders. Other industries at risk of bruxism and jaw pain are technology and agriculture. The singular focus that these industries demand from their workers causes them to grind their teeth unknowingly.
You cannot leave a job because it’s causing oral and dental problems. What you can do is to be aware of the situations that might be pushing you to grind your teeth, smoke, drink, and be dehydrated. Properly taking care of your dental health is essential to your overall health.
