Oral Health Concerns for Millennials

The younger generations of the present day, millennials or Generation Y, bring with them their own oral health concerns they may or may not have been aware of as children. Luckily, there are strategies that can help them maintain their oral health and address specific issues they may encounter. Those who practice good hygiene often enjoy healthy teeth and gums, but some millennials and those of Generation Y can suffer from sensitivity, teeth grinding, temporomandibular joints disorder, and gum disease---all of which can pop up today or later in life.

• Sensitivity can be bothersome and can affect the foods you enjoy when it occurs. This reaction is unpleasant and can be linked to tooth decay, fractures, worn fillings or tooth enamel, exposed root, or gum disease. Sensitivity can be treated be as simply as changing toothpaste.

• Teeth grinding is more common with children, but it can occur in adults as well. It is often caused by stress, and teeth grinding can cause headaches, jaw soreness, and other symptoms. A mouth guard is a common treatment, but this can vary based on the condition of the problem.

• Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ) or TMD disorder is a painful jaw condition that affects facial muscles that control chewing and jaw movement. TMJ can be related to stress teeth grinding and can also come from other sources, but some are still unclear to doctors today. A dentist can treat it with combinations of exercise, drugs, and other approaches.

• Gum disease is a nasty affliction that starts at the gum line and works its way down into the tissue and bone that surrounds the teeth, where it can destroy whatever it touches. The first stage is gingivitis, which is inflammation of tissues that hold the teeth. When it becomes more severe, a person can start to lose teeth as well as the supporting bone. It’s possible to have gum disease and not even know it, so regular dental checkups are recommended to ensure oral care is kept on track by a dentist.

Some people fail to realize the importance of going to the doctor or the dentist, but to keep your smile bright and perfect, a checkup is necessary to ensure you are doing everything you can to maintain oral health. From a small issue like painful sensitivity all the way to destructive gum disease, it’s important to recognize a problem and deal with it as soon as possible.

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