You know those days when you wake up in the morning and everything feels off? You feel down all of a sudden, your breasts are sore, you’ve started to break out and this last for a couple of days.
You go to the toilet and suddenly everything makes sense: it’s that time of the month.
Regardless of how old you are, experiencing period symptoms is not fun. According to the NHS period symptoms include:
- feeling bloated
- breast tenderness
- mood swings
- feeling irritable
- spotty skin or greasy hair
- loss of interest in sex
At least those are the period symptoms we’re most familiar with. But there are others, And the brilliant folk over at London’s Vagina Museum recently shone the spotlight on one of them: teeth and gum pain.
As the museum team explained, thanks to changes in hormones, the menstrual cycle affects the entire body – and this also includes the mouth.
“Progesterone levels affect the gums. And symptoms around periods are called menstruation gingivitis’,” they explained.
“Just before your period, the gums can become inflamed. This might cause symptoms such as gums looking bright red and bleeding gums, which can cause toothache symptoms.” You might also notice your salivary glands are swollen or experience an increase in mouth ulcers.
“The overall effect can be a very sore mouth,” added the museum team, who urge people with periods to understand these changes in their cycles.
“Try to schedule appointments with the dentist or hygienist in other points of your cycle, to avoid procedures being done at a time when your gums are more likely to be inflamed and bleed more,” they advised.
Many women responded in shock to the thread, asking why this wasn’t common knowledge.
So if you notice any pain in your gums during your next period, at least you know why.