Dental News
The Journal of Psychosomatic Research recently published a study which found that homeless people with tooth decay or missing teeth are more prone to depression than those with healthy teeth. Roughly 850 homeless people were surveyed by Scottish researchers to see if bad dental health was an early indicator of depression.
The researchers suggest that providing dental care to homeless individuals can improve their mental and physical functioning and help them to become more self-competent and improve their ability to integrate into society. In addition, homeless people with decayed and missing teeth also tended to have lower quality of life and more dental anxiety. Both of these could lead to depression, said the authors of the study.
To date, only one other research paper has been published on dental health in the homeless. That study, done in northern Ireland in 2007, found that nearly half of homeless men were self-conscious or ashamed about the way their teeth looked. That study also found that 1 in 3 homeless men had mental health issues, including depression but the Scottish study is the first to link poor oral health with risk of depression.
FYI, the Journal of Psychosomatic Research is the official journal of the European Association for Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatics and affiliated with the external link International College of Psychosomatic Medicine.
This is interesting, but I am not necessarily surprised about the information.
ReplyDeleteI think linking depression to poor oral health is like the “chicken-and-egg” theory. You can’t be 100% sure which one comes first. Depressed people weren’t able to take good care of their oral health because they can’t think properly. While those with poor oral health suffer from depression because they can’t interact to the society very well.
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