Harmful Mouth Related Habits That Damage Your Teeth

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Your teeth can sustain damages due to various reasons besides accidents and sports-related incidents. Mouth-related habits cause more harm than you may think but may continue with the practices despite warnings from general dentistry to avoid them and prevent the need for expensive repairs.

General and family dentistry practitioners frequently advise their patients not to indulge in harmful mouth-related habits that can damage teeth. However, people continue with them for unknown reasons to end up with problems like chipped teeth by chewing ice cubes and frequent snacking. This article looks at some detrimental mouth-related habits that you must avoid to safeguard the health of your teeth and your wallet. Would you please continue reading to learn more about the harmful practices we refer to?

Using Your Teeth As Tools

Your teeth are designed for eating and chewing and not for other purposes. Using your teeth to open packages as a substitute for scissors or hold things when using your hands for other purposes is not suggested by the general dentistry practitioner near you. When you indulge in such habits, you risk cracking your teeth and injuring your jaw, or even accidentally swallowing objects you didn’t mean to. You can comfortably get over this problem by finding something or someone who can lend you a hand because your mouth will express gratitude for it.

Biting Your Fingernails

Biting your fingernails may be your favorite pastime, but the habit develops from nervousness and can chip your teeth or impact your jaw. In addition, putting pressure on your jaw for extended periods in a protruding position can pressurize your jaw and result in jaw dysfunction.

You can get over this problem by trying bitter-tasting nail polishes, stress reduction techniques, and setting realistic goals for yourself to help you. If you find some situations are pushing you towards biting your nails, develop the habit of holding something to keep your fingers busy.

Brushing Aggressively

Brushing twice a day for two minutes each is sufficient to clean your teeth and is a habit you must develop early. Brushing your teeth doesn’t require you to brush aggressively or use a hard toothbrush. You can irritate your gums and damage your tooth enamel. Instead, use a soft-bristled toothbrush besides inquiring about proper brushing techniques from your dentist because you help yourself by preventing damage to your teeth and gums. Set the hard toothbrush in your possession to clean bathroom tiles that you can scrub all you want without fearing dental injuries.

Teeth Grinding and Clenching

If you clench and grind your teeth when sleeping or even when you are awake, the habit requires attention because it can cause chipped or cracked teeth besides causing muscle tenderness and temporomandibular joint pain. You may also face challenges opening and closing your mouth wide or chewing because of discomfort. If you discuss the problem with general dentistry services, they recommend you wear a custom-created night guard to keep your teeth apart from contacting each other and find relief from tooth damage, pain, muscle soreness, and better sleep quality.

Chewing Ice Cubes

Ice cubes are crystals similar to tooth enamel. When you insist on pushing two crystals against each other, one will likely crack. On most occasions, you may notice the ice cube cracking, but sometimes your tooth can sustain damages or fillings fall out. Instead of damaging your teeth by chewing freezing ice and seeking treatments from dentists, why not avoid the habit altogether by drinking chilled beverages without ice or using a straw to avoid the temptation of chewing ice cubes. The prevention helps avoid expensive dental treatments for chipped and damaged teeth.

Frequent Snacking

Frequent snacking, especially on sugary and starchy foods, puts your teeth at a higher risk of tooth decay and cavities. The cavity-causing bacteria in your mouth feast on the sugary and starchy foods leftover on your teeth to produce acids that erode the dental enamel and create holes in them before you realize it. Cavities cause permanent damage to your teeth, repairable only by getting dental fillings. Leave the pits untreated, and you may need a dental crown after undergoing root canal therapy.

The mouth-related habits described in this article, besides damaging your teeth, make you susceptible to receive expensive dental treatments. However, if you avoid these detrimental mouth-related habits, you can safeguard your teeth and your bank balance and said the money aside for something better later.