Do Teeth Move During the Menopause?


Does menopause cause your teeth to move? Let’s take a look at what we know about our teeth and menopause and whether it is true that this stage in life can actually cause our teeth to move. 

What is menopause? 
Menopause usually happens to women around the age of 45 to 55, and it is the process that happens when the body stops its menstrual cycle. It can happen much earlier or later in life, although this is less common. Menopause comes with a wide variety of symptoms, some of which we are still only just beginning to understand and learn about. Its effects include mood swings, fluctuating anxiety levels, hot flushes, brain fog and even shooting pains throughout the body. And these symptoms can start long before women actually lose their periods. There are medications you can take to help with menopause to help relieve some of the symptoms, and should you feel you are beginning to show signs of menopause, it’s important to contact your doctor to get the advice and support you need. 

So how does this affect teeth? 
Well, when we experience menopause, we start to lose something called oestrogen from our bodies too. And oestrogen is really important as it’s one of the hormones the body uses to maintain cognitive health, reproductive health, cardiovascular health and bone health. It is this risk of bone health declining that can be linked to the declining health of our teeth, as our teeth are connected to our jawbones. It could be that as bone density lessens, the teeth are able to move more freely in the mouth or even fall out completely. 

What are the signs this could be affecting me? 
There are a few symptoms that you could be suffering from that could point to tooth loss or movement due to menopause; However, these symptoms are very similar to the symptoms of gum disease, so in either case, you must get in contact with your dentist Liverpool to get it checked out. Symptoms include inflammation, swelling of gums, red or purple gums, bleeding gums, pain in your gums, gums that are beginning to recede, pus from the gums, loose teeth, a new or bad taste in your mouth, bad breath, pain whilst chewing or pain in the jaw. 

Dry mouth 
It is also very common for women going through menopause to start experiencing dry mouth; this is because the saliva glands in the body aren’t making the hormones to produce saliva. Hormone replacement therapy from your GP should be able to help with this. If you are experiencing this over a long period, it must be addressed by your dentist since a dry mouth left untreated can seriously encourage bacteria and germ multiplication as it’s not being washed away by saliva. Furthermore, any overgrowth of bacteria will turn to plaque and tartar, which are the two leading causes of gum disease and tooth decay.