How Bulimia Nervosa Affects Your Teeth

Bulimia nervosa, or bulimia, is a compulsive psychiatric condition where the sufferer overeats and then purges the food out of the body shortly after by inducing vomiting. This condition is prevalent among both men and women. The condition usually begins in the early teens where the sufferers become too conscious of their body and believe that they are fat even if they really are not.

While bulimia is a psychological condition that has more to do with body image than anything else, the sufferer’s teeth, among many other parts and organ systems in the body, take some toll from the illness. Bulimia is known to cause many oral and dental problems that are not to be taken lightly and are due primarily to the vomiting. Constant vomiting wears down the teeth’s enamel, causing tooth decay and then eventually tooth loss and gum disease.

The enamel is worn down by gastric acid that is introduced to the mouth when vomiting. Gastric acid also causes the teeth to become soft and the gums to erode, further loosening the teeth from the gums.

Bulimics usually keep their condition under wraps, making it too late for dentists to save teeth. Many dentists now recommend regular dental checkups for suspected bulimics to both confirm the condition and to treat the damage that’s already been caused. In Scottsdale, dentists are proactively fighting bulimia through their information campaign on the causes of the condition to the teeth. Scottsdale dentistry now offers checkups for bulimia damage detection and treatment.

According to a Scottsdale dentist, the symptoms of dental and oral damage due to bulimia includes red or cracked or dry lips, noticeable loss of erosion of tooth enamel, dry mouth and decrease in saliva, enlarged salivary glands, some amount of redness seen in the palate and throat, receding gums, loosened fillings, adjustments in the bite and a possible occurrence of severe pain.

These symptoms may occur even in just a short time, and loss of teeth is actually a common consequence. This is why most Scottsdale dentistry practitioners recommend that these issues should be treated as early as possible, and that relatives or friends of, or the sufferer himself/herself, should find dentists and hygienists who will handle their case with empathy and confidentiality.