Hormones Women with worse teeth than men

Hormones are to blame: women have worse teeth despite a healthier lifestyle

25/08/2014

Although women generally live healthier lives, brush their teeth more carefully and go to the dentist more often, they still have a worse set of teeth than men. One reason scientists see the hormone balance, pregnancy also has consequences.

Men in the oral hygiene more careless
When Maria B. looked in the mirror in the morning, she was reminded of the old folk saying, "Every child costs the mother a tooth". In the past, the 32-year-old had little discomfort with her teeth, but after having given birth to two children, her dental visits began to pile up. Now a new crown is to be used. For many women, teeth are a constant topic. And although men are more careless in their oral hygiene and less likely to go to the dentist, women in Germany in all age groups have on average fewer teeth than men, as research shows.

Women live healthier and longer
When it comes to health behavior, there are basically big differences between the sexes. Already as babies, women are less likely to be sick, less likely to suffer from chronic diseases during their childhood, and less likely to ruin their health as adults through stress and unreasonableness. Men also smoke more often and drink more often and more alcohol than women and are also more often overweight and have a higher risk of obesity. Men have a higher cardiovascular disease risk, more often suffer a heart attack, on average go to the doctor less often and take health promotion and prevention less often than women. On average, women therefore live five years longer than men.

Female biology is responsible
But women's teeth are obviously more vulnerable than men's teeth. However, this is not their way of life, but the female biology responsible, as studies have shown. Medical professionals are now convinced of the "small difference". Thus, different gender-typical complaints, deviant response to therapies and the differing need for medicines are increasingly being addressed and also taken into account in research. Women and men have different symptoms in many diseases, react differently to therapies, and often have other risk factors for the development and course of disease.

Gender Differences in Dentistry
And although there are also gender differences in dentistry, this has often been neglected, as the dentist Christiane Gleissner from Friedberg regrets. The researcher is a research associate at the Mainz University Dental Clinic and president of the German Society for Gender-Specific Dentistry, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (DGGZ), founded in 2011. In the "Bundesgesundheitsblatt" Gleissner compiled the gender-specific data on oral health. She has evaluated 48 international studies from the past 30 years, which document significant gender differences in all age groups and life stages.

Women have fewer teeth on average
Men are therefore more careless in oral hygiene, less likely to go to the dentist and have more plaque on their teeth and therefore suffer more often from inflammatory gum disease than women. In addition, last year a survey commissioned by the "Apotheken Umschau" showed that about one third of men only go to the dentist when toothache has already set in. Nonetheless, women in Germany have on average fewer teeth than men in all age groups, with an average of one tooth less in 20-year-old women. Similar differences are also reported from other European countries, the USA and developing countries. The problem is already evident in childhood. Although young boys and girls suffer from tooth decay (caries) at the same time, at the age of 15, teenagers are much more likely to have tooth decay than teenagers. A trend that continues in adulthood.

Discrepancy due to different oral hygiene can not be explained
But drilling is often not enough, women's teeth must also be drawn more often than men's teeth. "Already women in the age group of 35- to 44-year-olds have on average fewer teeth than men," said Gleissner to "The World". And further: "Women 65-74 years old are much more likely to be toothless than men." The mean number of missing teeth in men at this age is 13.3, and in women 15.0. A discrepancy that can not be explained by differences in oral hygiene. One reason for the increased susceptibility of teeth in women is likely to be in the hormone balance, as their faster maturation, the change of teeth from the deciduous teeth to the permanent teeth and the eruption of the molars in girls use earlier than in boys. Therefore, female teeth are exposed to a possibly caries-causing environment in the mouth longer.

Hormonal fluctuations during pregnancy
The hormone receptors estrogen and progesterone, which are found in the gums, have a correlation between hormone levels and the gums. Therefore, hormonal fluctuations can directly affect dental and oral health. Such fluctuations, for example, play an important role during pregnancy. During this time, the hormonal change leads to a loosening of the connective tissue, which can lead to a superficial gingivitis and bleeding gums. "In the case of an inflammation of the periodontium that already exists before the pregnancy, hormonal changes can worsen bone resorption," says Gleissner. In addition, frequent vomiting during pregnancy can damage the enamel, increasing the risk of tooth decay.

Study confirms old folk wisdom
The deterioration of Maria B.'s teeth after the birth of her children was hormonal. A study by Yale University in New Haven, in which researchers around Stefanie L. Russell have evaluated the health and nutrition data of 2,635 mothers, showed already in 2008 that the old folk wisdom is right. The scientists concluded that every pregnancy increases the likelihood of a woman missing a tooth or teeth. Regardless of criteria such as dental care, psychosocial factors or the frequency of visits to the dentist, roughly one tooth less was available per birth.

Dental health during menopause
The dental and oral health of women is also affected by the hormonal fluctuations during menopause. The hormonal changes make superficial gingivitis more frequent. As a result, when it comes to bleeding gums, many patients brush their teeth less thoroughly. This forms plaque and the gums react with further inflammation. In addition, estrogen deficiency causes problems for the teeth after menopause. Women who receive hormone replacement therapy have more teeth on average. But after stopping the hormones, the teeth are worse. Thus, the mucous membranes are dry and it can lead to mouth burning. Hormone-induced bone loss can have an effect on the jaw, which also threatens tooth loss. "In addition, it is known that women in any age less saliva than men," said dentist Gleissner. (Ad)