Bulimia Research Papers

Words: 485
Pages: 2

Anorexia & Bulimia

According to the South Carolina Department of Mental Health, about 8 million of all Americans, 10-15%, suffers from an eating disorder. An eating disorder is serious mental disorder that can cause life threatening disturbances to one's medical, psychological, and oral well being. It becomes an obsession and a struggle with trying to perfect what society has portray through social medias and fashion industries on how thin we should look. Now a days, kids at a young age can get their hands on technology very easily. Meaning, they can be exposed to these bad influences from medias at a very young age and start to develop a eating disorder sooner. Unlike adults who have this illness, it affects kids in a more serious way. It
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Anorexia is an eating disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight and refuses to eat. Bulimia involves a distortion of one's body image with an obsessive desire to lose weight, binge eating or overeating large amount of food in a short period of time, then self-induce vomiting to not gain anything due to guilt and shame. By refusing to eat, the body is not getting the proper proteins, nutrients, and vitamins to stay strong. The acids in the stomach from vomiting starts to break away little bits of the teeth. Over time, teeth in the mouth will start to change and wear away. The enamel on the tooth surfaces will start to disintegrate causing the tooth structure to change in its appearance. Due to the acidic fluid, it can cause the tooth to become brittle, translucent, and weak. As time go on, more and more vomiting that happens, the acid will break down the tooth structure and can cause the pulp to be exposed which can be at a higher risk of getting oral infections and tooth decay, and be more sensitive to temperature. Brushing right after throwing up is actually bad for the teeth because then, the acid is just being spread throughout the mouth rather than getting rid of it; rinsing and spitting is a more thorough way of getting rid of the acid. Constant vomit causes the mouth to dry resulting in red, dry, cracked, and painful lips and can result in xerostomia later