Disclaimer: This is sponsored content. All opinions and views are of Guerra Dentaland does not reflect the same of KOAA.
In this Your Healthy Family there are many factors that can affect the health of your teeth and gums, but did you know hormones are one of them?
Dr. Fred Guerra with Guerra Dental in Colorado Springs says, “It's been known that hormonal changes affect the periodontal condition of the mouth and gums. As someone enters puberty, they may start getting some swollen or tender gums as the level of estrogen and progesterone decrease or increase in the mouth.”
Dr. Guerra says there are other life changes involving hormones that can also affect periodontal health. “There are a lot of different hormonal changes, for example during pregnancy it can be pretty pronounced. The myth used to be don't do anything other than you know during pregnancy that could jeopardize the baby. If you're not maintaining your oral health you are jeopardizing the fetus because we know that what's in the mouth, for example, bacteria systematically goes to all the other organs in your body. As people progress into a postmenopausal phase, they have various progesterone changes, and they can experience burning mouth syndrome. As a female goes through her life cycle she is affected by changes in hormone levels to the point where even as ladies get a little older, they'll get osteoporotic changes and that affects the support of their periodontal structures and the bone in their mouth.”
Dr. Guerra says that carefully managing dental health is something that should be kept in mind as hormones change. “As they are aware of other bodily issues that may go along with this (changing hormones) they need to know that it is always affecting their oral tissues. Regular oral hygiene and doing what we called periodontal maintenance examinations, which check in the pockets and around all the teeth -- it's just critical to do when you have these changes going on and you should have someone monitoring your oral health for you.”
If you have questions follow up with your dentist and the folks at Guerra Dental would be happy to speak with you anytime.
Guerra Dentalis a proud sponsor of Your Healthy Family
