4 days ago
From oral sex to doing drugs, dentists can tell what you've been up to
A trip to the dentist can reveal a lot more about your health than just how often you floss.
So, when you're in the dentist's chair, the doctor will check for cavities, but your mouth can also provide insight into your overall health, including if you have diabetes, cancer, heart disease or kidney disease and even HIV.
However, routine dental exams may divulge other risque activities that you would otherwise prefer to keep private.
Dr Jarrett Manning, founder of JLM Dental Studio, told HuffPost: 'Dentists are the first line of defense in detecting system diseases and nutrition deficiencies because some of these diseases and deficiencies have oral manifestations.
'This means the disease process may present as abnormal mouth lesions that dentists are trained to detect.'
has outlined just some of what your mouth can reveal in the dentist's office.
Childish habits and oral fixations
If you're still partaking in the self-soothing habit of thumb sucking, you could be causing major damage to your teeth, and your dentist will be able to tell if you're holding onto the childish practice.
Sucking your thumb, especially into adolescence and adulthood when permanent teeth come in, raises issues as it changes the structure of your jaw and growth of teeth.
Dr Erin Fraundorf, an orthodontist and founder of BOCA Orthodontic + Whitening Studio, told HuffPost: 'Thumb-sucking may significantly alter not only a patient's teeth but their jaws. These signs include protruding upper front teeth with spacing, tucked back lower front teeth with crowding, a narrow upper jaw and an anterior open bite - a lack of vertical overlap between the upper and lower front teeth.'
Dentists can also tell if you bite your nails or have an oral fixation that makes you bite or chew on things that should be left out of your mouth.
Dr Fraundorf added: 'Without glancing at your nails, a dentist may be able to detect if you bite your nails - or bite on other items, like pen caps or bottle caps.'
This is because the stress and wear and tear on your teeth from biting or chewing hard objects can cause chipping, cracking and wearing away of the enamel.
Bedroom activities
While you may prefer to keep your bedroom habits private, if you visit the dentist shortly after engaging in sexual activity, your doctor will be able to tell.
This is because performing oral sex on a person with a penis leads to distinct changes in the mouth, lasting for several days. The giveaway is a rash of small red or purple marks at the back of the throat or the roof of the mouth, called palatal petechiae.
The marks are caused by bleeding beneath the oral tissue, similar to a bruise. While palatal petechiae can be triggered by a sickness or virus, in the case of oral sex, it's caused by something repeatedly hitting the back of the mouth or throat.
'Sometimes we can tell,' orthodontist Brad Podray said in a TikTok. 'It's usually bruising on the soft palate called petechiae. But unless the patient's really young or shows signs of abuse, we don't care.'
Risky sexual behavior
Because the symptoms of STIs vary, some may only present with oral signs and you may not realize you have the disease.
Herpes causes lesions and sores on and around the mouth and lips, while gonorrhea oral symptoms include swollen tonsils and white spots inside the mouth and throat. It can also cause burning sensations and pain in the mouth and throat.
Syphilis can cause sores on the lips, tongue, gums, mouth and throat and hepatitis A and C can lead to altered taste and inflammation of the mucous membranes in the mouth.
Illicit indulgences
Drug users may unwillingly reveal their secret to their dentists.
Cocaine can cause perforation of the palate, according to a study in the journal Nature, as well as lesions and the erosion of the tooth surfaces.
The drug also makes you more prone to periodontal diseases, or those of the gum and oral tissues.
Additionally, people who use meth may experience 'meth mouth', which causes tooth decay and gum disease and can lead to teeth cracking and falling out.
Hidden diseases
While it may seem unexpected, dentists may be the doctors that actually reveal major health complications that go far beyond your mouth.
'You can see if someone has HIV by identifying specific lesions called Kaposi's sarcoma that are common in uncontrolled HIV cases and have a distinct visual appearance,' Dr Ilona Casellini, founder of Swiss Quality Smile, told HuffPost.
Kaposi's sarcoma appears as lesions on gums, the mucous membranes and the roof of the mouth. People with HIV may also experience chronic dry mouth, canker sores and hairy leukoplakia, which presents as white patches on the tongue, that dentists can pick up on.
'Oral yeast infections can be a symptom of HIV in young patients who seem to otherwise present as healthy,' Fraundorf added.
