Bad Habits to Break That Are Harming Your Teeth

Bad habits are hard to break, but when they are affecting your health, it's well worth the effort to put a stop to them. Today Access Dental & Dentures is focusing on the bad habits that can be harmful to your teeth. If you find yourself doing any of the following, you may want to schedule an appointment at one of our dentist offices in Southern Missouri to see if any damage has already been done. 

Using Teeth as a Tool
Teeth are made for eating, not to be used as a tool for opening things. Whether you're ripping open a package or bending something, your teeth should never be used. A tooth breaking or chipping is often a side effect of using your teeth for an unintended purpose. To avoid this bad habit, make it a point to not use your teeth as a tool and take the time to find the proper item to accomplish your task.

Chewing Ice

Extremely hard edible items can cause damage to your teeth, ice included. It can put excessive pressure on the surface and end up chipping the tooth or fillings you may have. To break this habit, consider drinking chilled drinks without ice or use a straw when drinking from a glass with ice in it.

Teeth Grinding

Many people will grind their teeth as a nervous habit or while they sleep. If you do this. it can cause surface damage to your teeth. Chipping or cracking of the tooth's surface is another side effect of teeth grinding. Try to pinpoint the reasons you may be tensing your jaw like this. You might consider having the experts at Access Dental & Dentures create a custom-made mouthguard to keep your teeth safe until you can figure out how to stop grinding them. 

Drinking Sugary Drinks

Soda and other sugar-filled drinks can cause unnecessary damage to a tooth's surface. Bacteria thrives when sugar is found in the mouth. This can lead to the decay of your tooth's protective layer, enamel. Cavities come along after the enamel covering it has been damaged and this can cause tooth decay and other oral issues. Limit your intake of sugar-filled drinks and look for a refreshing alternative to replace them with. Water is an excellent choice. 

Biting Your Nails
Biting nails is an easy way to invite bacteria into your mouth. Aside from unnecessary amounts of bacteria, biting your nails can also damage your teeth. Chipping teeth and negative impacts on your jaw muscles and bones are caused by this bad habit and it's not very good for your fingers and nails either. To avoid further tooth damage, work to find a way to relieve the urge to bite your nails. Wearing gloves might help and some people choose to put something that tastes bad on the ends of their fingertips to discourage this bad habit. 

If you happen to have any of these bad habits and would like some help breaking them to improve your oral health, let our trusted dentists in Southern Missouri help you out. Stopping this behavior is good for more than just your teeth and once you tackle the problem, it will do wonders for your smile! 

We want to be your dentist because your family deserves a great smile! 

1-877-DENTIST

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