8 Harsh Habits that are Damaging Your Teeth

There are millions of ways your teeth can get damaged. Unfortunately, some of them are the direct result of daily habits that we can avoid or minimize.  Here are the eight most common bad habits and some suggestions on how to curtail their effects on your teeth.

Sugar

The most well-known antagonist to healthy teeth is sugar. What many people don’t know is exactly how much simple sugar types are used in the modern American diet. Almost every processed product has sugar in some form or another, a plague of teeth destruction wrapped in plastic. Doctor and author Richard Johnson claimed that about 25 percent of all Americans consume over 134 grams of added sugars a day in his book The Sugar Fix.

Many studies question whether sugar doesn’t work in the brain in such a way as to create addiction. Whether this is true or not, sugar is something that needs to be restricted for the safety of your teeth. Cutting out high sugar foods such as soda pop, candy, and other sweets is a great place to start. Of course, regular and proper brushing, flossing, and swishing of mouth wash can help minimize harm to your teeth’s enamel and reduce plaque build-up caused by bacteria feasting on the sugar still in your mouth.

Drinking Coffee or Tea

Most people assume that regular coffee and tea drinking only stains the teeth, and the problem can be eliminated with a cleaning or tooth bleaching. It’s true that they can help with this problem, but regular hot drink consumers need to be aware that their morning cup might also be eroding your enamel in the process, leaving your teeth vulnerable and susceptible to other problems. Even swapping out a cup or two per day for a glass of regular water can keep your mouth much healthier.

Using a toothpick

Do you know that toothpicks started out as a marketing ploy to use up scraps of wood in the lumber industry? The Diamond Company alone manufactures more than eight billion toothpicks each year in its Minnesota factory. Believe it or not, most dentists wish their clients wouldn’t use them to “clean” their teeth. In addition to irritating and inflaming your gums, toothpicks can also scratch and weaken tooth enamel. Instead of packing them in your lunch or snagging them at restaurants, keep a flosser or roll of floss handy in your purse or car.

Tobacco Products

Smoking and chewing tobacco is a daily need for more than 852 million people worldwide. Though stained teeth, injured gums, and eroded enamel aren’t the worst things tobacco can do to the users’ bodies, it is still a concern. There are lots of options, including free government classes or programs, that can help you stop using tobacco products.

Opening bottles or Wrappers with your Teeth

It’s not uncommon for people to use their teeth to tear open new products or pop off bottle tops with their teeth. Not only can this cause accidental cuts to the lips or face, but the pressure and sharp part of the bottle can break, crack, or scratch the enamel of your teeth. Keeping scissors or bottle openers handy is an inexpensive and safer way to open things.

Removing tags

Everyone gets excited when they bring how new clothes, but using your front teeth to gnaw through the plastic tags can not only grind teeth together and create cracks, but can also strip away your enamel, opening up the tooth to further destruction by bacteria. Again, have scissors or even nail clippers close by and using them to remove tags before washing your new clothes will protect your teeth.

Crunching ice

Just like the tags and bottles above, crunching ice can badly scratch or fracture your teeth. Many people do this habitually after drinking all of their sodas in a fast food cup. Another thing to be aware of is doing so with chunky smoothies or blended coffees. Over time, chewing ice can greatly destroy the chewing surface of your molars as well. Ask for your drinks without the ice or better yet, order water.

Anxious Chewing

When life gets stressful, some people find themselves with an oral fixation, gnawing on pencils, glasses, fingernails, or other items found at home or the office. If destroying property, making your fingers bleed, or bending your frames isn’t enough of a reason to stop this tendency, the safety of your teeth should be considered. These habits can scratch or break your teeth, and if done over long periods of time, can move your teeth’s position. If you have any dental devices in your mouth, you can also break those, increasing your overall costs. There are many ways to de-stress – counseling, exercise, yoga, reading a book, and more – so pick something you like to do and save your teeth.

The Value of a Broken Habit

It may take a bit of effort, but breaking some of these habits is a sure-fire way to prevent damage and take better care of your entire mouth, but especially your teeth. As Miguel de Cervantes in Don Quixote states in the 1605 work: “Every tooth in a man’s head is as valuable as a diamond.” That’s the high value, and a great reason, to work hard at stopping these damaging habits.