{"id":813,"date":"2017-08-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/dental-care-blog\/medications-impact-oral-health\/"},"modified":"2017-08-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-08-02T00:00:00","slug":"medications-impact-oral-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/dental-care-blog\/medications-impact-oral-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Medications\u2019 Impact On Oral Health"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/hudsonhighlandsdentistryblog.socialmediafordentistry2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/91\/2017\/08\/Medications-and-Oral-Health_543.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"543\" height=\"543\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1450\" \/>  <strong>MANY OF US<\/strong> need to take medications to treat a wide variety of conditions. However, even as those medications treat our illnesses, they could be causing problems for our teeth and gums. <\/p>\n<h3><strong>Medicine And Oral Chemistry<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p> Some medications\u2014even some vitamins\u2014can damage our teeth for the brief period that they\u2019re in our mouths. This can pose a particular problem for children. As adults, we swallow most of our medicines. Children\u2019s medicine tends to come in the form of sugary syrups and multivitamins, which feed oral bacteria and leads to tooth decay.  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.everydayhealth.com\/asthma\/asthma-thrush-link.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Inhalers<\/a> for asthma can also cause problems, specifically oral thrush, which is white patches of fungus in the mouth that can be irritating or painful. The best way to avoid this complication of using an inhaler is for you or your child to rinse with water after each use, and the same goes for sugary cough syrups and chewable multivitamins. <\/p>\n<h3><strong>Side-Effects For Your Mouth<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p> Plenty of other medications, though they don\u2019t do any damage while you\u2019re ingesting them, can be harmful to your mouth in the long term because of the side-effects. Let\u2019s take a look at some of the more common side-effects. <\/p>\n<h4><strong>Inflammation And Excessive Bleeding<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p> If you notice your gums becoming tender and swollen shortly after you start on a new medication, you should talk to a medical professional about it. Several medications can cause <a href=\"http:\/\/www.webmd.com\/oral-health\/guide\/oral-side-effects-of-medications#1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gingival overgrowth<\/a> (or excessive growth of the gums), <strong>which puts you at increased risk of gum disease.<\/strong>  To learn more about the risks of gum disease, watch the video below:  <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JryVlJTX9ok?rel=0\" width=\"543\" height=\"305\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>  <\/p>\n<h4><strong>Altered Taste<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ada.org\/~\/media\/ADA\/Publications\/Files\/patient_51.pdf?la=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Some medications<\/a>, such as cardiovascular agents, central nervous system stimulants, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and smoking-cessation products can leave you with a bitter or metallic taste in your mouth, or even interfere with your overall sense of taste. This isn\u2019t necessarily a serious side-effect, but it can be unpleasant, especially for food-lovers. <\/p>\n<h4><strong>Dry Mouth<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p> The most common mouth-related side-effect of medications is <a href=\"https:\/\/mydental.guardianlife.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/7-medications-that-may-be-causing-your-teeth-to-decay\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dry mouth<\/a>. A wide range of medications, including antihistamines, decongestants, painkillers, high blood pressure medications, muscle relaxants, drugs for urinary incontinence, Parkinson\u2019s disease medications, and antidepressants can all cause it.  Aside from feeling uncomfortable, dry mouth is very dangerous to oral health. Saliva is the mouth\u2019s first line of defense. It contains compounds that remineralize your teeth, neutralize acids, and keep bacteria in check. Without enough saliva, that bacteria runs rampant and there\u2019s nothing to neutralize the acid or add minerals back into your tooth enamel. From there, you can develop mouth sores, gum disease, and tooth decay. <\/p>\n<h3><strong>Taking Medications? Let Us Know!<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p> The best thing you can do to ensure your medications aren\u2019t clashing with your oral health is to tell your dentist about your prescriptions and any over-the-counter medications you\u2019re taking. From there, we can formulate a plan for how to counteract the medications\u2019 effects. <\/p>\n<h4>At our practice, we\u2019re rooting for your oral\u2014and overall\u2014health!<\/h4>\n<h6>Top image by Flickr user <span style=\"color: #2a7abd;\"><a style=\"color: #2a7abd;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/jamiesrabbits\/5748419806\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jamie<\/a><\/span> used under <span style=\"color: #2a7abd;\"><a style=\"color: #2a7abd;\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 4.0 license<\/a><\/span>. Image cropped and modified from original.<\/h6>\n<h6><span style=\"color: #d9d9d9;\">The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.<\/span><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>MANY OF US<\/strong> need to take medications to treat a wide variety of conditions. However, even as those&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[176,273,274],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-dental-posts","category-general-dental","category-176","category-273","category-274","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}