Hi, Can anyone clarify please how Hashimotos affects teeth/gums? Or is it the Levothyroxine that does it? Whenever I mention to dentist, she is oblivious to this/never heard of it.My teeth have always suffered. Countless fillings, extractions, sensitivity, poor enamel, teeth practically disappearing!! Getting me down now...and my bank balance!!
Just wondered if it is being hypothyroid?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Oh, I'm on 125mcg Levo, keeps my TSH down below 1. GP doesn't like it, but I do! As only dose where I feel anything like human....except for my teeth😩
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MissDemeanour191
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As far as I'm aware the Parathyroid and the Thyroid work together to keep the right balance of calcium in the blood. In very basic terms, if there's too little Calcium in the blood the Parathyroid releases hormones that lead to extraction of calcium from bones, reabsorption from urine, and uptake via gastrointestinal, to balance it
However, if there's too much Calcium in the blood, the Thyroid acts by releasing a hormone that does the reverse to the above.
So there's a fine balancing act, where the Thyroid is also involved.
Yeah I have private medicals that test everything! As hopeless at GP. Vit D mid range, try to remember to take it plus I take magnesium. Think maybe collagen & vit C would help. Just sometimes, you get sick of the tablet merry go round! As for dentist, I am private, though strangely, my husband gets better treatment at his NHS dentist!
Hmm strange re dentist - do they have Denplan as an option - amazing scheme and takes pressure off as not that expensive I don’t think for benefits offered. Do you have any metal fillings or white ones ?
It is actually quite well-known that being hypo affects teeth and gums. Except by doctors and dentists who like to blame the patient by telling them they're not cleaning their teeth properly! But that's the medical profession for you.
Teeth and gums need good levels of thyroid hormone just like every other part of your body. And it's not just about the size of your dose now, it's how long you were hypo before being treated that does the damage. And there's no way we can really know that. But I estimate that it was getting on for 50 years before anyone thought to test my thyroid, despite my long list of typical symptoms, and now I only have about five teeth left - and I don't think they're going to be with me for much longer. But, of course, according to all the dentists I've ever seen - and it's a loooong list! - it's all my fault because I don't brush and floss according to their instructions! Makes me so cross.
Yep! Exactly the same. If GP's get limited training on Thyroid issues, then think dentists get even less. Really don't want to go down 'dentures' road. My mum bless her, ended up in nursing home. They all used to lose their dentures! ❤️ they might as well have just put them all in a bowl so you could 'pick your own' in the mornings.
That is terrible! Your poor mum. It's not that difficult surely. But, I can tell you from experience, it's better to have dentures than live on porridge and tomato soup! You get used to it, like everything else. And there's not a lot you can do to avoid it, I don't think.
Surprisingly, my sister in law can eat anything, and she has never worn dentures. From what I understand, people, who don't have teeth, build up, what is like calluses on their gums so can chew everything. Of course, her meats need to be cut up. My Aunt was another example. And so was my Mom. Neither of them had teeth and could eat anything as well. Some times, I would rather have preferred not wearing a lower denture than to deal with it, always, coming out, especially, when I'm eating. And, especially, when I'm out in public. It just doesn't want to stay in. And I had a Prosthodontist tell me the same thing. I have to use adhesive, and reapply it three times a day.
Yes! Few residents in my mum's nursing home didn't bother with dentures. Staff and management weren't very nice when you complained about missing dentures...wristwatches....wedding rings. Took my mum to have new dentures made, and she never tiok to them. Even after few 'fitting appts' they didnt seem right, sbe preferred her old worn down ones, which were loose! Another reason why i'm really trying to keep my teeth!! It's getting harder tho.
So interested to hear this, I have an underactive thyroid as well as lupus and like you, am fed up of being told that I am not looking after my teeth properly. I just had two teeth extracted and lots of work with a peridontist which is costing a fortune - so frustrating
Hi, interesting to hear from someone else with multiple autoimmune conditions - it gets so complicated and as I get older I’m in danger of ‘just accepting everything’
Currently on a mission to get to the bottom of severe groin/hip pain 🙄 - it’s never ending.
Yes it is frustrating. Dentist complimented me on 'flossing' i.e teeth ok dont need scale & polish...too right! £60 now private for this!! Didn't like to tell her my preferred method of 'flossing' is wooden cocktail sticks from the co-op 👍
That did make me laugh - I have one tooth that drives me insane getting everything stuck in it - I use anything I can get my hands on to get it out - be careful with cocktail sticks though - I used them regularly too until Lupus when I had to be careful about germs with a dodgy immune system and putting those unsterile bugs on the wood into the blood stream - I hate flossing - it really hurts and several times I have pulled a crown off and it has cost me a fortune - as you know - to have it put back on. I always try to get out of the scale and polish - phoning up as the appointment gets near to say - oh sorry I am unable to come along due to - some excuse - but hey just realised I can now go as Denplan scheme allows free treatment all around. - even implants I was shocked to read. But I will still avoid if possible as I hate it - it really does hurt my gums.
Hi yes I used to buy them by the bucket load but found them very expensive as was only using them once of course and throwing them away = so I have now bought an interdental brush which is very good and can be sterilised after each use. Much cheaper and very effective.
Oh yes definitely - if you google 'teeth and thyroid dysfunction you will find a lot of stuff to read - when I get a minute I will post the scientific papers that this is mentioned in which is a bit heavier. I had a 'baby' tooth until I was 21 years of age - the large tooth did not come down from the gum and I had to have it removed when I was 15 years of age as it had gone bad inside the gums - the baby tooth was still there at 21 years of age and was taken out by a dentist to allow me to have a bridge fitted. I have had problems with my teeth since I was a child but not diagnosed with thyroid problems until I was in my 50's - but - there is something you can do - the cost is horrendous now I know only too well - first of all take Vitamin C to help with the collagen structure holding the gums in place - my teeth used to wobble when I was low on C or my adrenal glands were gobbling it up to help with energy because I was low in thyroid hormone but undiagnosed. I will look into other nutritional things you can do but a bit rushed for time this morning but will come back to you - but the second thing is get a dental insurance plan - I have Denplan with my dentist costs me £104 a month for two of us and no bills again - it would be about £55 for one person and well worth it if you can afford - I had to pay £800 for a crown and then my hubby and then me again so we were out of pocket by over £2,000 before I realised I could get insured - I thought my dentist would think I was too high a risk for the insurance. I did have a dental plan privately I paid for but it only paid back half of the amount. Be back soon.
However, as someone who has studied this science and been able to see specialists in the field of nutrition - there is a problem with taking separate items - OK if you are being tested regularly and you are told - you are deficient in A B or C - so take these - but what I have found is if you take separate doses then it 'knocks out of balance' something else - so I would correct one thing say a B vitamin and then another blood test and another B vitamin would have dropped down - so I recommend taking a good multi - without IODINE - I don't agree with what he is saying on needing iodine - yes as thyroid patients we do need it but let's be honest - our thyroid hormones contain iodine - there were reasons why this 'everyone globally is low on iodine' and it is not true. But that's another story - I can recommend Nature's Best as a supplement company they are reasonably priced and professional level supplements - the product I take is Natures Best Multi Max for Men and Women 70+ - I know you aren't 70 but that is irrelevant at this stage of deficiency. This multi contains everything you need - I don't know if you are on any medication which I would need to know in case any of the items in the product could affect your treatment medications - I have had problems with malabsorption of vitamins and minerals for years and have had to supplement and can thoroughly recommend this company and that particular product. Hope this helps once again.
Yes interesting video. He talks very fast! Sign of intelligence. I take vit D, vit B12 & magnesium. Think collagen & vit C would help. I have private medicals, as GP not interested....except in lowering my Levo dose!! Thanks for your reply.
You do realise you can slow the playback speed down on YouTube if he is speaking too fast for you to keep up, don’t you? Just click on the settings wheel and a range of options will come up including speed and subtitles…
Probably preaching to the converted, forgive me if I am, but sometimes it’s useful to put it out there…
Haha cheers for that. I talk quite fast myself, and have habit...probably irritating to others, of interrupting people as they're a) not talking fast enough and b) not getting to point they're making fast enough and c) Not letting me speak!! Am sure this is THYROID related quirk. Anyone else have this??
Oh yes I call it a thyroider trait - I will say to my hubby ‘another thyroider’ - I can spot by facial features even- dropped eye - gap in teeth - voice and demeanour apart from swelling in throat !
😆 indeed. Maybe it's 'misphonia' another thyroid trait....a dislike of unnecessary, unbearable, too loud noise....like the sound of other people's voices! Maybe it's just getting old....
What my hubby and I have also identified 'en masse' is that 'thyroiders' are very talented - we spot them regularly on TV films etc. in Science etc. etc. and have come to the conclusion that possibly due to the deficiency in one area of the brain (thyroid deficiency) there is extra potential offered by the adrenal glands to keep the body going energy wise etc. - which means adrenaline is higher - I had a photographic memory when at school and into my 40's - but when the thyroid deficiency got really bad at 50 - I lost my memory completely at one time - (sticky blood) this is when the adrenal glands have to take over the oestrogen supply etc. to compensate for the ovarian depletion at menopause and if the adrenals are tired due to being used as a compensator for so long then they cannot offer up the oestrogen and cortisol/sex hormones needed and this is when the thyroid problems really kick in - including going from photographic memory to brain fog etc. etc. that we all know.
Interesting! Yes, I suspect my adrenals are working overtime. I suspect a 'link' too with insulin resistance, polycystic ovaries conditions very prevalent in females in my family. A few females in my family have never had children, not because they don't want them! But due to medical/hormone complications. My daughter had baby through IVF, they were lucky. Now, she is showing classic thyroid symptoms, but GP keeps telling her TSH is 'normal' as it's over '2' and of course they only go by TSH. It's all a very interesting and detailed science. But of course, very common in females, so largely gets ignored. My mum said her mum, when going through menopause, was told by her husband to 'go sit in the kitchen and calm herself' till she felt right again!!
Such a shame - trouble is when and if they got on thyroid hormone the story doesn't end happily as we all know. Do you know about Toft who said he has got the TSH testing criteria wrong - I gave the details to my consultant who went a rather curious shade of red when reading it !
I am about £42 a month for this. £50 odd per month sounds too cheap if your crowns are supposed to be free. I think you have possibly changed companies for the same cover. The £800 crown fee is you gettting something free or half price. I can't remember if it is the technician's fee that is free or if this is what are paying for. I think you need to re-check your policy as I think you may still get charged £800 if you need a crown. If it is totally free, well done!
Just checked my Denplan and yes I do have to pay for the technicians and the material used for crowns etc. but that would be in the region of £150 not £800 - such dreadful prices like that of vets at the moment - outrageous.
Association Between Periodontal Diseases and Hypothyroidism: A Case–Control Study
Objective: Periodontal diseases are chronic inflammatory disorders influenced by systemic health of the individual. This study aimed to investigate the association between hypothyroidism and periodontal disease in a cohort of adult Saudi population.
Methods: This case–control study included 201 adults with hypothyroidism on hormone replacement therapy and 188 healthy controls. The medical files of patients were reviewed to check thyroid stimulation hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) levels. Participants completed a questionnaire on demographic and health information, followed by a comprehensive periodontal examination. Pearson chi-square and binary logistic regression analyses determined associations, with a significance set at p ≤ 0.05.
Results: Gingivitis was found in 20.9% of cases and 58% of controls. Periodontitis stages I, II, III and IV were in general higher in cases compared to controls (23.4%, 27.9%, 21.9%, 6% in cases versus 13.8%, 17%, 9.6%, 1.6% in controls, respectively). Mean PPD and CAL values were higher in cases (5.54 ± 2.5 and 3.88 ± 3.1) than in controls (4.03 ± 1.6 and 1.72 ± 2.4). Significant associations between periodontal status and hypothyroidism were found (p < 0.0001). The periodontal status in hypothyroid cases correlated significantly with hormone replacement therapy dose and duration (p < 0.0001).
Conclusion: The findings of the current study showed that, in a cohort of adult Saudi subjects, patients with hypothyroidism have higher prevalence and more severe periodontal disease symptoms compared to controls, suggesting significant association.
Sorry forgot to say I had so much amalgam in my teeth it made me so ill and I eventually had about 30 pieces removed and my health improved - I now have all white fillings and they are amazing - if you are going to an NHS dentist that might be the problem - if you can get insurance you could go to a good private one there are lists of good one if you tell me your area.
Dry mouth created by being hypothyroid means less saliva which is the natural anti bacterial in the mouth. If you don’t have enough spit, your saliva can’t do its job. The outcome is poor teeth and gums. Not all hypothyroids (I have noticed) get precisely the same bag of symptoms, nor to the same degree.
Not sure high fluoride toothpastes actually help with this. Some toothpastes I find take the surface skin off the inside of my mouth - not sure that’s a good thing either.
I asked a dentist why there is sugar in toothpaste, yet we're told to cut back on sugar because, amongst other things, it's bad for teeth. He looked surprised and said, that's a very good question, but I don't know why. To this day, sugar is put in toothpaste unless you use Tom's or Pink Salt types.
Same reason I suppose that we were told a good old fry up with bacon and eggs we had for years and years was bad for us - fat was bad for us - now we are finding out that certain well known breakfast cereal companies had a glut of grain and wanted to sell more to the UK - hence why our breakfasts changed - not for me or my Mum who lived until she was 93 - I have always thought it awful how much sugar we give our kids every morning whilst we need sugar for energy not that much in my opinion. When we as kids had a good breakfast with eggs (protein) I never wanted to snack before lunch. There was another 'expert' who also said butter was bad for us and we all changed to vegetable oils which are now being muted as being 'cancer' drivers - margarine manufacturers after the war had taken out a vital ingredient that was needed for the body to be adequately nourished. Now lard is being hailed as the new fat to use and I have changed back to lard and have recently had a 'fats blood test' and my blood fats are lower than when using vegetable sunflower oil type products.
These toothpaste manufacturers are outrageous what they put into their products - directly into our mouths - fluoride of course which is a no no for thyroid patients but also the other rubbish which cannot be good for us - I have changed to a natural product toothpaste now with no fluoride but will have to keep an eye on my teeth to check that my teeth are not affected by the lack of fluoride - fluoride is an awful substance but no doubt it does keep the teeth strong but at what cost we should ask ourselves.
A number of Tom's of Maine products - including some toothpastes - are available in the UK. But I cannot speak for any particular variant.
Distribution did seem to improve after they were taken over.
Wiki says this:
In 2006, a controlling 84% stake in Tom's of Maine was purchased by Colgate-Palmolive for $100 million;[10] the Chappells own the remaining sixteen percent. The acquisition was significant in getting more consumers to try Tom’s of Maine products.[11]
The terms of the purchase stipulate that the policies and company culture of the Tom's of Maine brand will be retained.[10]
Biomed Sensitive toothpaste seems good, I don't think it contains sugar (haven't checked recently) and it has no fluoride, sodium laureth sulfate, peg or saccharin. It's also sometimes packaged as Splatt I was told. I use it and find it much better than any other.
I have bought from H&B - Kingfisher brand - but the baking soda one - mustard and white tube - it contains baking soda which I love - and no fluoride which I hate - but also natural ingredients such a fennel - lemons - tea tree - and aloe Vera - once you get used to the unusual taste it really does clean my teeth and plaque seems less.
Talking about bacteria in the mouth - I soak my toothbrush in a glass of warm water with a steradent tablet at least once a week keeps brush clear of bacteria - particularly after having a cold or sore throat etc.
Hi there - here's a good article which confirms - your dentist doesn't know about this because they obviously don't get taught it at dental school - outrageous. Try to get a private insurance with Denplan - you would have to find a Denplan dentist -I will help with that if you so wish - I am 75 and have all my own teeth with a good dentist doesn't mean I haven't had issues and I am his most complex patient he says with my dental issues but get a good 'private' dentist and you shouldn't get any more loss - but I have also taken vitamins and minerals all my life - my baby tooth issue was a sure sign of slow metabolism i.e. thyroid deficiency not enough hormone to send the tooth down when it was time - but not diagnosed until I was over 50 ! My Mother had all her baby teeth until she was 21 and when she died at 93 she had all her own teeth - nursing staff would say can you take your dentures out please and she got so miffed and had to tell them excuse me they are my own !
The thing with dental insurance is that you can then go to a private dentist and....they are much more up to date with their treatments - I get the latest up to date materials - I think I have a carbon crown ! With our problem you really do need to go private ! Hope this helps be back with vitamins listing for teeth.
Another thing nobody talks about - probably not many people know. But if your FT3 is low, yo§ur Human Growth Hormone is going to be low, too. And it's a pity more doctors don't know about HGH because patients get trapped in a vicious circle: you need good levels of T3 for the pituitary to produce enough HGH, but you need good levels of HGH to convert T4 to T3.
I suspect one of the reasons this is never talked about is that HGH is a very delicate hormone and has to be self-injected, and always kept in the fridge, and costs a fortune! Far more than T3.
Anyway, one of the symptoms/results of low HGH is shrinking gums. So, that has a negative effect on teeth, too.
Autoimmune thyroid conditions affect the quality and quantity of saliva being produced.
It causes a dry mouth which predisposes a person to tooth decay and gum disease. I just looked up a medical article about this. My dentist said I have a dry mouth so I avoid most things that give bacteria something to chew on. I'm not perfect but haven't had decay for quite some years and that happened because two of my fillings had chipped and I waited a few years to have them replaced.
Plus, what I know is after menopause we produce less saliva. So there's that. I get food stuck along the sides of my upper back teeth which I think has to do with not producing enough saliva. There's always something between those teeth as well so I have to clean between them every day or even after I eat meat especially.
Now, on that subject, I'm going to go and brush my teeth.....
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Increased Levo and teeth grinding?!
Crumbling teeth
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Any connection between Thyroxine causing Sensitive teeth?
