Lack of work, insecure professional situation and even the tough position of the boss may be the reason why we lose our teeth. Poles at work increasingly clench their teeth nervously, as a result of which they are subject to wear or cracks. It turns out that work in the financial sector is the most dangerous for our teeth.
Teeth grindingandstressat work have been monitored by the British He alth Foundation for several years. Research shows that stress at work is the main cause of tooth grinding and nervous grinding. According to specialists, in the last 18 months the number of patients who grind their teeth due to stress at work has increased by 10-20%. - During 8 hours of stressful work, we often unconsciously grit our teeth, bite hard objects, grind our teeth in anger, thus releasing enormous forces in the mouth, which grind our teeth. The problem is so serious that the second wave of grinding and gritting teeth often takes place at home while we are asleep. The same reason, stress at work - says Mariusz Duda, MD, PhD from Duda Clinic in Katowice.
8 hours of stress, 8 hours of gritting teeth
The number of people suffering from stress at work will increase dramatically in the next 5 years. Today, as much as 79 percent. managers believe that it is a serious problem at work. In Poland, as much as 73 percent. of us believe that the level of stress at work increases every year, reports the European Agency for Safety and He alth at Work (EU-OSHA). The reason is both the fear of losing a job and the lack of offers on the market. No wonder that the 8-hour tension behind the desk is increasingly ruining our he alth. Already today 85 percent. Poles declare that she is stressed every day. This problem is noticed more and more often by dentists, who are approached by patients with worn-out teeth.
- Nervous jaw clenching is becoming more and more common. Only in the last 2 years we have recorded almost 20 percent. increase in patients complaining ofbruxism , i.e. teeth grinding. Most of them declared that they were stressed at work. This group is dominated by managers, financiers, bankers, lawyers and officials, but also representatives of professions traditionally associated with stress - pilots, flight attendants and even surgeons, says Dr. Mariusz Duda from Duda Clinic Implantologiaand Aesthetic Dentistry in Katowice.
We work worse because of a headache
The problem of teeth clenching is noticed today by 57 percent. employees. 87 percent is of the opinion that he does so under stress. 41 percent it takes place during a meeting with the boss, in 23 percent the reason for clenching the teeth is the client, according to the Duda Clinic probe conducted on a group of 500 employees of private companies. As many as 71 percent has had dental problems over the past year. But that's not the end, because gritting your teeth during the day and grinding your teeth at night also have other consequences.
- Bruxism, that is, clenching and grinding your teeth most often occurs at night. In many people, it causes insomnia and fatigue during the day. Often, the consequence of grinding is also chronic pain in the head, joints and muscles, not allowing you to concentrate on the tasks performed. Hearing disorders and even neurosis are another result. Each of these ailments not only weakens concentration during the day, but also intensifies the fatigue that occurs before 10 am. Such people also often abuse painkillers and antidepressants at work, which in turn can be dangerous in professions requiring full concentration - explains the dentist.
Ambitious perfectionists lose their teeth faster
According to psychologists, among people most exposed to bruxism and its consequences are people with the so-called A personalities, i.e. ambitious people and perfectionists related to business. Most often for this reason, senior and middle-level managers end up in dental chairs. Employees over 50 are in the high-risk group, although, as dentists point out, the number of patients in the 30-40-year-old group is increasing. Nervous jaw clenching, as well as bruxism, occurs where there is stress and uncertainty, which is why there are worrying cases even among twenty-something-year-olds, whose stress literally eats their teeth.
So how do we get rid of a condition that interferes with our work? According to specialists, the problem is much more complex. - It all depends on the cause. The effects can be minimized by wearing a special tooth protection overnight, but it does not eliminate the cause. This is most often removed with relaxation techniques and even psychotherapy, in extreme cases when neurosis or depression caused by stress appears, says Dr. Duda.