Veterans
can face a whole lot of health related disabilities that
involve much of their time and energies in the
innumerable trips to the physician and further
examinations and verifications thereafter. Veteran
disabilities from teeth grinding is often not a very
straight forward cases since it involves symptoms that
are not clearly indicative of a damaging dental
condition.
Veterans
and teeth grinding
While
damage to teeth may become apparent with time, it
requires knowledge of the condition of teeth grinding in
order to pursue the right channel of examinations to
verify the root causes of the
problem.
The
occurrence of teeth grinding is closely related to the
existence of stress and anxiety and it ramifications on
an individual’s life. Veterans, by nature of their lives
in the military and the history of combat circumstances
that many of them have lived through, often end up
leading very traumatic lives after retirement. A fact
that is not appreciated as much as it
should by those who do not have the insight into the
military conditions that soldiers have to live in.
Stress and
its connection to teeth
grinding
Post
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the common
conditions that veterans undergo. Although the PTSD as a
condition is acknowledged, the connection that this
condition can lead to other health issues is often lost
on many and quite literally difficult to establish. This
is a perennial lacuna of veteran’s disabilities
issue.
Stress and
anxiety are one of the most common of the many
established factors of teeth grinding. It is little
wonder then that veterans are especially prone to teeth
grinding. Several Vietnam veterans have been seen to go
through the oral condition of teeth grinding as a direct
consequence of the traumatic period of their lives that
often leave deep scars in their lives and bring forth
many ramifications and health issues that are rooted in
and related to the trauma and associated stress
factors.
The wear
and tear resulting from teeth grinding is different in
nature from other dental causes of teeth wear and tear.
One needs to visit a dental personnel who is specialized
in cases of Bruxism, in order to clearly establish the
linkages of stress to the teeth grinding issue. Veterans
disabilities and teeth grinding therefore present a
typical case in point for treatment of teeth grinding
through multi disciplinary methods of using damage
control devices (such as night guards or splints) and
undertaking holistic measures of treating teeth grinding
through relaxation techniques, correct exercises and
other life style habits.
