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Is it true that teeth grinding has increased due to corona stress?
In technical terms, teeth grinding is referred to as bruxism (symbol image)
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Anxiety, stress, even depression: the corona pandemic is a great burden for many people. Researchers from Poland and Israel wanted to know if this led to more teeth grinding. That’s what they found out.
Is it true that teeth grinding has increased due to corona stress?
In the initial phase of the pandemic, scientists from Israel and Poland investigated whether teeth grinding (bruxism) increased due to corona stress. Almost 1,800 people from both countries were asked about their physical and mental health, their financial situation, their relationship with family and friends, their fear of infection or their consumption of television, the Internet and social media in an online survey during the respective lockdown in 2020 Asked about the pandemic – and about bruxism.
The result: 34 percent of the Polish participants stated that their teeth grinding had gotten worse during the day, with 28 percent this was the case at night. The numbers were lower in Israel, where 16 and 13 percent of respondents were affected.
Several reasons for increased teeth grinding
The results showed, according to the scientists, that the coronavirus pandemic had a significant negative impact on the psychoemotional status of both Israeli and Polish populations, leading to an intensification of their bruxism. They identified fears, depression, stress or personal problems due to the pandemic as reasons. However, they cautioned, the surveys were conducted at some point in the first phase of the pandemic and may indicate the immediate stress posed by the sudden health risk and lifestyle change.
The scientists emphasize that further studies would therefore have to follow. Especially in order to assess the possible psychological and physical long-term consequences of the pandemic, and also to identify risk groups and to be able to counteract an aggravation of the emotional and physical effects of future global crises.
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