Poor Quality Sleep And Your Oral Health

Who would have thought that dental care could improve your sleep?

When we think about poor quality sleep, we probably think it’s due to being stressed, or that the mattress is too uncomfortable or we are too hot.

It can be all of these things of course, but in a surprising number of instances, poor quality oral health can affect our sleep and potentially that of those who sleep in the same bed, or sometimes even in other rooms of the house!

What few people may realise is that it is not only external factors that can deprive us of good quality sleep, but, sometimes, our oral health too. We hope that our Chelmsford patients will find this blog interesting and please remember that we are here to help should you feel that any of the issues mentioned might be affecting you.

Snoring

Anyone who snores may sleep heavily and for a long period of time in some cases, but the quality of sleep can be quite poor. Anyone sharing the bed will almost certainly not be getting a good night’s sleep either. There are a number of possible causes of snoring and some of these may be detectable during a dental examination.

When carrying out a check up, dentists may, on occasion, spot issues such as a high palate or enlarged tonsils. Whilst we can’t directly treat these, we are in an excellent position to detect the problem and may recommend that you arrange to see your GP to discuss the matter further. Treatment of these conditions can help to ease or even stop you snoring and enable you to have a better night’s sleep.

Bruxism

This is probably a condition more familiar to our readers and, sadly, probably suffered by some too. Bruxism is another term for teeth grinding and also mostly happens while we sleep. As you can imagine, grinding your teeth together while you are sleeping is not conducive to good quality sleep.

It is widely thought that bruxism is caused by stress and anxiety. While longer term solutions such as a change of lifestyle or relaxation techniques will help you to manage this problem, dentists can sometimes help too. Custom mouthguards may be provided to prevent the teeth from grinding together, and, of course, we can also help to restore any teeth that have been damaged by this action. Any damaged or broken teeth are also likely to be uncomfortable and any pain will certainly affect your sleep. At Blue Sky Dental Chelmsford we have an excellent team who can carry out treatments such as the addition of crowns for a broken tooth or a veneer for chipped teeth that might be causing soft tissue abrasions of the oral cavity for instance.

If you suspect you might be grinding your teeth, please do get in touch so that we can help, and hopefully help you sleep better too!

General oral health issues

In addition to already broken teeth caused by bruxism, it goes without saying that other general dental issues like tooth decay or gum disease can affect your sleep. If we have a painful, or even mildly uncomfortable toothache, it is almost inevitable that our sleep will be disturbed, even if it doesn’t actually wake us up. Gum diseases can cause irritation of the gums along with soreness and other problems. If you have gum disease, it may also have been caused by a continual dry mouth at night which can lead to gum disease and which is also likely to make you wake up needing a drink and thereby disturbing your sleep even more.

This is an area that we can help you with on an ongoing basis. Ideally, you will attend regular six monthly check up examinations where early signs of dental problems can be detected and treated before they become too advanced. If you haven’t been to a dentist for a while or no longer attend your check ups, we can still help to restore any affected teeth.  Remember that the sooner you contact us, the faster we can treat you and also help to prevent the problem becoming much worse.

If you are feeling tired, even after sleeping for what should be long enough, you should see your GP to ensure that there are no underlying health issues causing it. If you have been given a clean bill of health, please do mention it to us when you come so that we can check for potential dental related signs, such as worn or cracked teeth from grinding.

Ongoing oral care may help you to not only have functional teeth and an attractive smile, but might help you to have a more restful night too. To make an appointment at Blue Sky Dental, please call our Chelmsford practice today on 01245 211070. We look forward to helping you.