Spike in Israelis seeking treatment for stress-induced dental issues since Oct. 7
Experts explain anxiety caused by war in Gaza has affected people’s dental — and mental — health
Scriptwriter Dana Modan recently wrote in a story she posted on Facebook, “I’ve had two cracked teeth pulled out. And now that we’ve rejoiced, I wanted to share that my dentist told me that since October, he hasn’t had time to treat all the people who contact him because their teeth cracked from stress and anxiety.”
Israel’s health maintenance organizations are reporting an increase in some dental injuries — the types that are caused by pressure, anxiety, and emotional distress.
“After checking with our dental clinics, we found that there is indeed a significant spike in requests for dental treatments since October 7,” the Meuhedet HMO told The Times of Israel in response to a request for comment.
“The complaints are for a variety of problems like muscle pain, especially for chronic pains in the jaw muscles, teeth grinding, teeth clenching, broken and cracked teeth, pain in the face and joints, and more.”
Maccabi reported a 20% rise in splint treatments at Maccabi-Dent clinics for teeth grinding. The HMO also said that some dentists noticed more people were coming to them because of injuries related to clenched teeth — a phenomenon often caused by emotional distress and other stress-related dental issues.
According to Dr. Olga Raznikov, a dental expert, manager of Maccabi-Dent in Ofakim, and a senior dentist in the dental health unit at Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, “stress affects the mouth in multiple ways — directly and indirectly.”
“The direct influence is that people experiencing stress tend to clench their teeth. Repeated teeth clenching causes the teeth to hurt each other and they wear out, get shorter and, sometimes, get flatter,” Raznikov said.
She added that “clenching your teeth also overworks the jaw’s muscles which can harm the teeth’s enamel. Teeth then become more vulnerable to harm from germs, which causes gum infections and lesions in the teeth. In some cases, the teeth even crack and break.”
Stress also has indirect influences on teeth, Raznikov said.
“When people are under stress, they take less care of themselves, and one of the first things neglected is brushing their teeth. They eat more candy and carbs, drink more alcohol, smoke and use drugs. All these things can lead to tooth decay and gum infections,” said Raznikov.
Raznikov added that another cause for tooth decay was stress hormones as well as some anti-depressant medications drying out the mouth.
“Another phenomenon I’ve been seeing more in the last few months than in the past is something called ‘burning mouth syndrome.’ People feel sudden burning in the mouth, on their tongue, or on their lips. It has many causes, but sometimes, it’s psychosomatic,” Raznikov explained.
“A rarer problem that harms the mouth — and I’ve been seeing it more in recent months — is autoimmune disorders like oral lichen planus. The disease is chronic, and I’m not aware of a rise in people who have it, but there have been more flare-ups among existing patients,” said Raznikov.
Stark rise in mental illness
The October 7 massacre in the south, where Hamas terrorists murdered some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, and the ongoing war have caused mental health issues for many. Thousands of soldiers who fought on the front lines have been getting psychological treatment, and some of them must return to combat after the treatment or even during it.
Among civilians, there are tens of thousands of people who have experienced direct emotional stress — families of hostages, bereaved families, injured people, survivors of the massacre, and people who were evacuated from their homes.
On top of that, estimates say that hundreds of thousands of people were indirectly harmed, such as people who experienced terror attacks in the past and were triggered by the war in Gaza, and women who have been subjected to sexual abuse and have relived their trauma due to the massacre.
The National Council for Mental Health estimates that most Israelis have been suffering from light emotional stress since the war began, including insomnia, nightmares, irritability, and anxiety. A significant part of the population, and according to estimates, a third of residents of the communities near the Gaza border, suffer from more serious mental health issues and need treatment. However, the council believes these will be resolved for most of them when the war ends.
The Health Ministry reports that there is no increase in people committed to psychiatric facilities and no indication of a rise in death by suicide, but there is a sharp rise in people seeking emotional treatment. The rise in the number of patients increases the burden on mental health services, which has been present for years and grew even more during the COVID-19 pandemic.
