Do you bite your nails? When you drink an iced beverage, do you chew on the ice? It may be tempting to continue these habits because they can be difficult to break. However, there are many bad oral health habits that can damage your teeth. We will review the most common bad oral health habits and how we can reverse tooth damage in our Fayetteville, AR, dental office.
Stop These Bad Oral Health Habits in Fayetteville
These oral health habits can lead to tooth damage, bite problems, and other dental health issues:
Biting Nails
If you bite your nails frequently, you continuously put pressure on your teeth. Biting nails can lead to TMJ problems like teeth clenching and grinding. Stress is a common cause of TMD or temporomandibular joint disorders. Placing pressure on the teeth and jaw and biting nails when stressed can be a risk factor for eventually grinding and clenching teeth down the road. Biting your nails also introduces your mouth to harmful bacteria. As harmful bacteria spread in the mouth, they can irritate gum tissue and wear away the enamel.
Using Teeth As Tools
Do you use your teeth to open packages? Use scissors instead! While it may seem convenient at the moment, using your teeth as a tool can cause damage over time. Sometimes, you can even chip or break a permanent tooth on an object.
Chewing On Ice Cubes
Crunching on ice cubes places stress on the enamel and the jaw bone. In addition to ice, particularly crunchy or hard foods can also leave teeth prone to wear or damage. As with nail biting and using teeth as tools, chewing on ice cubes can eventually lead to problems like TMD or breaks in the tooth enamel.
Brushing Too Hard
If you brush your teeth aggressively, you can damage your brush bristles and wear down your teeth. Over time, tooth wear can expose dentin, the dark underlayer beneath the enamel. Severe tooth wear can lead to sensitivity by exposing the nerves within the tooth. When brushing, gently brush in a circular motion, moving from tooth to tooth. Begin with the outside of the teeth, move to the chewing surfaces, and then brush behind the teeth.
How Can You Treat Tooth Damage?
If you have sustained a dental injury, contact our office. We offer dental veneers, tooth bonding, and dental crowns to cover and protect teeth. Veneers are thin, porcelain ceramic shells that we bond to the front of the enamel. Dental bonding treatments use malleable tooth-colored materials to cover smaller areas of damage.
If patients have larger areas of tooth damage, we will recommend dental crowns. Crowns are caps that fully cover single damaged teeth. Dental crowns are also beneficial for patients with tooth wear because they can create a more balanced and stable bite.
Are you looking to stop your bad oral health habits? Call Greenway Dental Care for treatment today at (479) 217-3178. You can also request a dental appointment with Dr. Keech on our website.