Women With Eating Disorders More Nervous About Seeing A Dentist

August 17, 2005

By Nancy Volkers
InteliHealth News Service

INTELIHEALTH - Women with eating disorders have higher levels of dental-related anxiety than other women, says a study from the University of Oslo.

Researchers surveyed 371 women with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Of the women, 32% said they experienced dental anxiety, and 17% had very high levels of anxiety. Among the women with dental anxiety, only 32% had visited a dentist in the past two years.

Most women with bulimia said they practiced self-induced vomiting, and 28% of these women had some erosion of their tooth enamel.

Although these women had visited a self-help organization, and thus were at least seeking treatment for their eating disorders, only about 4 in 10 said they had told or would tell a dentist about their eating disorder.

The study appears in the August issue of the European Journal of Oral Sciences.