COVID Epidemic of Cracked Teeth

Q: I read in the NY Times that poor posture from working at home at the kitchen counter or sofa lately is resulting in a slew of cracked teeth. This seems fishy to me. What do you say?

A: Before I answer this, I have a question: If a minivan pulled up alongside of you at a red light with the driver wearing a full face, full-on racing helmet, you would think he is a total psycho; correct? You don’t see firemen at Starbucks after work with a fire hat, a big yellow coat and boots, do you?

Two words: yoga pants. Why has America doffed the Costanza sweatpants and now have decided that yoga pants are a form of casual clothing? Many donning these human sausage casings most likely have never been to a yoga studio. Most are involved in yogurt; not yoga. Myself included. You don’t want to see me in those things. I would look like I’m smuggling grapes out of Turkey.

And now back to our question of the week:

I also found the chiropractor’s quote in the NYT article a bit of a “stretch”. Although I do agree that stress leading to grinding your teeth at night is an aggravating factory, there are “deeper” problems.

Dental disease such as decay and leakage under existing dental restorations, (crowns, inlays fillings, porcelain work, implant fixtures, removable dentures, etc.), all went undetected for a minimum of two months during the shutdown, but then dragged on for as much as six months as many people feared returning to the dental office.

Un-treated decay plus stress fractures in dental materials under-mind tooth structure like a sink hole beneath an Ocala house! Root canal treated teeth can be extra brittle and prone to fracture especially when they contain small metal posts or pins.

Decay and fracture of existing dental work may not show any symptoms and may not even be picked up on an X-ray. Only in-person examinations (not Zoom consults.) and the use of an intraoral camera which shows live color images magnified 200 times can help pick up these issues.