You May Have Habits that are Bad for Your Teeth

There are many things you don’t think about that you do every day and they may be harming your oral health. There are foods and drinks that cause tooth decay when eaten in excess and habits that are bad for your teeth that you might not even realize you do.

If any of the following habits or foods are common each day for you, consider stopping, cutting back or protecting your teeth.

Nail Biting

Nail biting can chip teeth and cause jaw dysfunction from being held in an unnatural position for long periods of time. You may be able to stop nail biting by using bitter nail polish, taking measures toward stress reduction, or holding an object or stress ball in your hand if you are in a situation that may trigger nail biting.

Brushing Your Teeth Too Hard

Don’t scrub your teeth – massage them for 2 minutes, twice a day. Brushing too hard, or with a hard bristle toothbrush can wear the enamel off and irritate your gums. Get a soft bristle toothbrush and don’t forget to floss.

Chewing Ice, and Using Teeth for Scissors

Your teeth were not designed to chew hard objects like ice or plastic. Using your teeth to eat ice, open bottles and clip price tags off of new clothing can crack or break your teeth. If you do have a strong urge to eat ice or chew things that are not meant to be eaten, get tested for iron deficiency. Anemia often causes an urge to eat non-food items.

Clenching and Grinding Teeth

Whether you clench your teeth during stressful times or grind them when you’re sleeping, try to kick the habit or protect your teeth with an oral appliance. Tooth grinding can wear down the surface and crack teeth.

Eating and Drinking Before Bed

Brushing your teeth right before bed is always important, and making a habit of eating and drinking right before bed can cause cavities. Letting sugar sit on your teeth overnight when you won’t be rinsing with water for more than 6 hours will cause tooth decay.

This one is for the baby of the family too. Going to bed with a bottle allows sugar to sit on the teeth when they are still new.

Drinking Sugary Beverages

Soda, sports drinks, and juice are all good on occasion, but many people make a habit of drinking these all day, every day. From the time a child has a sippy cup of juice to quench his thirst to the grown adult who depends on caffeinated beverages to stay focused, minimizing the amount of sugary drinks in your diet will save your teeth and help your waistline.

Diet soda is not the answer though! Beverages with no sugar often have more acid, and that can cause tooth decay too.

Drinking Coffee

The dark color and acidity of coffee will eventually stain your teeth, so if you want pearly whites without using whitening products avoid drinking it. Coffee with creamer is loaded with sugar and that can cause tooth decay as well.

Constant Snacking

Whether you are eating sugary foods or salty snacks, it is bad for your teeth if they never get a break from eating. Snacking produces less saliva than a meal. Saliva helps break down the sugars and carbohydrates on your teeth, so eating meals rather than snacks is better. If you do like to snack, low sugar, low carb snacks, like vegetable sticks are a great option.

Smoking Cigarettes

The tobacco in cigarettes causes a number of dental problems that are much worse than yellow stains. Tobacco also causes gum disease that can cause teeth to fall out, and cancer of the mouth, tongue and lips.

Piercings

If you love to get piercings, you may want to avoid piercing your tongue, lips or cheeks. These piercings rub against teeth and people tend to play with them with their teeth or tongue. Eventually they will harbor extra cavity-causing bacteria.

If you’re looking for a new general dentist, or need cosmetic dentistry services, contact Family SmileCare Center of Cedar Rapids.

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