Some smiles look just beautiful even if the individuals sporting such smiles may lack the usual "show"- neatly designed healthy teeth. So who are the lucky individuals who can still earn a lot of praise even though they do not have teeth to show off while smiling? Babies and seniors who have toothless gums. The innocence of the appeals, which their smiles carry, makes their smiles so beautiful even without fulfilling the established criterion for a beautiful smile. But what about those who do not fall in these two categories?
And some processes form a cycle. If tooth loss can make smiles disappear from faces, then it may cause depression, a state of mental illness. Again, a state of depression may also cause you to lose teeth, thereby giving you a second reason for saying "no" to smiling or laughing aloud. Researchers at the University of Queensland, have suggested that people with severe mental illness are three times more likely to experience tooth loss in comparison to the general population.
Poor oral health has been cited as the reason behind tooth loss in mentally sick individuals. Researchers organized a free dental care program for this category of individuals and found that they have not availed the benefits of the current advancements in this field of healthcare. Researchers considered their oral health data obtained from 14 studies conducted over the past 20 years.
There were a total of 2,784 patients with psychiatric illnesses like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and dementia. An analysis revealed that these individuals were at a 3.4 times greater risk of losing all their teeth and 6.4 times more likely to experience tooth decay. Researchers are of the opinion that lack of privileges may be responsible for poor oral health in mentally sick individuals.
A second reason may be the use of antidepressants which may cause dry mouth or xerostomia, a condition which encourages plaque formation. And these patients are most likely to deny treatment because of fear or due to concerns over costs. Researchers have suggested that individuals, who are treated for mental illness, should be guided on their smoking habit, dietary practice and brushing technique while taking into consideration risk factors like tobacco and drug abuse and the use of medications.
People with mental illness need several reasons to smile. If antidepressants could have fought their way to let smiles blossom, then half of the problems would have been solved. But again, these are the medications which are acting as smile killers. A depressed face may not stretch a bit to show a bright smile. But some bit of human touch may still bring out a few seconds of smile on a depressed face- may be, we will find some teeth missing. But it is a beauty in itself.
