Are women’s mouths less healthy than men’s? The reason women have more dental caries than men is that women have more tooth decay is interestingly related to reproductive health.
Rapid changes in certain hormones in women also affect teeth. Increased fertility, changes in diet, and distribution of labor all work together during the transition of humankind to an agricultural society, and the incidence of dental caries varies according to gender to this day.
In fact, researchers at the University of Oregon in the United States analyzed data from prehistoric times to modern health records, and found that women were more vulnerable to dental health than men. In particular, cavities were more common in women.
There are three reasons for this. The number one reason is female sex hormonal changes. Female hormones and physiological factors clearly influence the formation of caries. Estrogen, a female hormone, changes rapidly during puberty and is elevated during pregnancy. The theory is that the accumulation of these hormonal changes might lead to changes in women’s diet, which in turn increased the incidence of tooth decay.
The second is the rate of saliva secretion. Women produce less saliva than men. Women are slow to completely clear food debris from their mouths until they chew and swallow. During pregnancy, as the chemical composition of the mouth changes, the antibacterial power of saliva, which kills bacteria in the mouth, also decreases, making it a good oral environment for tooth decay.
Finally, cravings and aversions for food are caused by the immune response during pregnancy. If the gestation period is divided into 4 cycles, a woman’s diet changes in each cycle. There is a tendency to avoid meat in the first cycle of pregnancy, and by the third trimester of pregnancy, high-calorie foods and sweet foods want to eat. As such, dietary habits during pregnancy are another factor that promotes tooth decay.
According to a report published in the latest anthropology journal, as mankind entered an agricultural society, a lot of labor was required, which increased the demand for female breeding. This leads to changes in the diet related to female fertility, which increases cavities. According to the analysis, the desire for food changes according to the change of the estrogen hormone, and there are many foods that interfere with dental health, which is a decisive cause of deterioration of women’s dental health.
Reporter Jeong Hee-eun [email protected]
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