Studies find links between oral hygiene and self-esteem

Phillipsrecently revealed the results of the study on the “Evolution of oral health during the pandemic,” and the results are no surprise, the state of your teeth has a great impact on your self-esteem

A similar study published in the Journal of Community Health Nursing 2006 also found that a person’s self-esteem also had an impact on dental health.

Taking care of your teeth can make you feel good about yourself

The Philips study, published in Business Review follows the oral hygiene and habits and attitude towards oral hygiene of a selection of Romanian people through the past year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Forced to stay home more than usual and uncertain of the future the study found that people found comfort in improved oral hygiene and since paying more attention to how they took care of their teeth 57% of participants in the study thought they looked better and 70% said they felt that good dental hygiene would give them better opportunities in professional and social situations.

You are less likely to take good care of yourself with you have low self-esteem

Although the results of the Phillips study are no surprise, a 2006 study found that people with low self-esteem were less likely to practice good oral hygiene or good hygiene at all.

The study follows the impact of self-esteem on health and found that 53% of participants who admitted to suffering from low self-esteem also acknowledged that they neglected their oral health.

According to Medicinenet, Stress, depression, lack of sleep and low self-esteem are related to bad hygiene in two ways; firstly people who suffer from these conditions are less likely to practice good hygiene and secondly, bad hygiene can contribute to these conditions especially low self-esteem.

Why do good teeth make you feel better about yourself?

The study done by Phillips found that participants were less likely to enter comfortably in social situations or feel confident if they believed their teeth were in a bad condition.

People who did not believe they followed good oral hygiene or that their teeth were healthy were less likely to engage socially while those who believe they had improved their oral health in the past year were more likely to be more confident and outgoing.

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