How Eating Disorders Affect Your Teeth

Today, being thin has become an obsession. As losing weight and looking thin gains popularity day by day, various eating disorders are also on the rise. APA has classified these eating disorders into three groups.

1.Anorexia Nervosa

2.Bulimia Nervosa

3.Other Eating Disorders

ANOREXIA NERVOSA

This term is also used as the loss of appetite due to nervous reasons. The rate of anorexia nervosa in especially young girls of 10-24 years of age is about 0.3%.

There are various types of anorexia. For example, the person either exercises too much while starving, gets stuck in a loop of binging and purging, or uses laxatives.

Anorexia affects gums the most, especially in those that have stopped eating altogether, gums become more prone to inflammation and bleeding, due to loss of vitamins that cause the loss of the defense mechanism of gums. In anorexia nervosa patients who also have gum diseases, bone losses become an issue and their teeth become shaky, or even lost.

BULIMIA NERVOSA

Dubbed the model disease, the sufferers of bulimia nervosa purge after meals and this way, neutralize their meals.

The hydrochloric acid drawn from the stomach when purging out the food ingested washes the patient’s teeth. The acid that gets trapped in the papillae on the surfaces of teeth cause mineral loss. When they lose their mineral structure, dental surfaces become abraded in time. The sharp parts of incisor teeth become thin and start to have a glassy appearance. This appearance is called “Perimilolysis”. In time, the chewer parts of the patient’s teeth may begin to appear so. The gritty surfaces of teeth straighten out and a loss of material on dental surfaces is experienced. The enamel loses its protective features, becoming unable to protect teeth, causing severe sensitivity against hot or cold.

Following the acidic corrosion, the existing fillings lose their dental adaptations and swell, or start to rot through the fresh gaps. This is so evident that just by checking the tooth enamel of a patient, dentists may determine if the patient has a habit of purging.

Purging attacks also increase the occurrence of tooth decays. Gum tissues become sensitive, as well. In addition, the structure of saliva glands is also deteriorated.

Cracks due to water loss and ulcerative lesions occur on gums, cheeks and soft tissues.

OTHER EATING DISORDERS (OED)

These are the kind of eating disorders suffered by people that consume only one type of food, or who binge wildly, after eating nothing for 1-2 days.

Teeth and gums are affected in various forms, depending on the amount of vitamin and mineral loss. People who consume no cheese or no dairies are in this group. Oral problems progress more slyly and slowly than other eating disorders. If the person lacks good oral hygiene, these oral problems are mistakenly traced to the lack of a habit of brushing teeth. Problems with slow progression burst out suddenly.

The best way of avoiding them is to have a balanced diet.