Seasonal Allergies Affect Your Oral Health

Feeling itchy, scratchy, or sneezy? Sinuses clogged, or your nose running? Welcome to Sneezin’ in Seattle time – aka allergy season in the Pacific Northwest! Sure, this area is a great place to call home, but it’s also a tough place to live if you suffer from seasonal allergies.

Why? Allergy season around here is epic! It runs a good 8 months out of the year – from February through September. Tree pollens, grasses and weeds, of my. If your allergies are worse in late winter and spring, you’re likely more sensitive to tree pollen. And if your summer sniffles are beginning to kick-in, you’re probably triggered by grasses or weeds. And some unfortunate few get the double whammy.

So, what do your itchy eyes, stuffed up nose, and other allergy symptoms have to do with your oral health? Plenty. Your seasonal allergies can actually impact the health of your teeth and gums.

Whether you’re a long-time seasonal allergy sufferer, or you’re new to the club, please be mindful of the following symptoms, as you sneeze your way through this allergy season.

How Seasonal Allergies Can Affect Your Teeth

1. You Notice Tooth Pain – As your immune system does its best to fight off the pollen, you may notice sinus pain. Inflammation from allergies creates mucus build up, which leads to congestion. When your sinuses get stuffy this can lead to facial and tooth pain. As the pressure builds in the maxillary sinuses, the largest sinuses in your face above your mouth, this pressure may push down on the roots of your upper molars. When this happens, you could experience pain when you eat, or tooth sensitivity to hot and cold foods.
   Taking an antihistamine may help lower the inflammation and provide relief. If it does, the pain is most likely related to your allergy, but if tooth pain continues,  please let us know.
2. You Have Dry Mouth – Experiencing on-going dry mouth is another nuisance that you may have to live with during allergy season. As your nose gets stuffed up, you wind up breathing more through your mouth, rather than through your nose, so this will promote dry mouth, especially when you sleep – that’s about 6 to 8 hours of open mouth breathing throughout the night. And if you take antihistamines to clear up your congestion, dry mouth is often a side effect of this too. Having a dry mouth for long periods of time isn’t good for the health of your teeth and gums. Why? Your oral health relies on saliva to fight off tooth decay, and flush food particles out of your mouth. When your saliva dries up you’re more susceptible to cavities and gum disease. Are your allergies in for a long haul as a seasonal sufferer? You can do some things to help boost your saliva. Eat certain foods, like celery and carrots, that help promote saliva flow, or try chewing gum that contains Xylitol (a natural sweetener). And drink more water. If you continue to experience dry mouth after the allergy season, please let us know. We can diagnose it and offer remedies, such as oral moisturizing sprays, prescription toothpaste, or anti-cavity rinses.
3. You’ve Got Bad Breath – Another possible, and annoying, bi-product from seasonal allergies is bad breath. It’s caused by the same troublesome bacteria that promote plaque and gum disease, and it’s often connected to your saliva flow. When it’s flowing like it should, your saliva can flush away a lot of the odor causing bacteria. But when allergies cause dry mouth, or your mucus starts to build up and leads to postnasal drip, the bacteria can flourish, unchecked, and stimulate your bad breath. Gargling with warm salt water can offer some odor relief, as the salt’s antibacterial properties can help reduce the bacteria promoting the odor. And it can also help relieve sore throat related symptoms due to post-nasal drip. If your bad breath is due to built up plaque on your teeth, we may recommend a mouthwash or prescription toothpaste, or a deep teeth cleaning – nobody can scrub away the plaque from your teeth like your dental hygienist can!

Be Mindful of Your Dental Health

When your eyes start to itch, or your nose clogs up, seeing any connection between your seasonal allergy symptoms and your oral health is probably not on your radar. But if you’re an unfortunate recipient of our long NW allergy season, this can negatively affect the health of your teeth and gums.

As you take on your allergies this season, please remember to stay hydrated, keep flossing and brushing, treat your allergies as needed, and stay on track of your regular scheduled dental exams and teeth cleanings.

And If you experience dry mouth because of your seasonal allergies, or any other reason, please don’t hesitate to call us at (206) 242-0066 to schedule a visit with us or request an appointment online! We’ll do our best to help ease your symptoms and keep your teeth healthy through allergy season and those other few allergy free months around beautiful Burien!