6 Habits That Can Harm Your Teeth

In daily life, we all follow good oral habits like brushing our teeth. But we often indulge in activities that some may be harmful to our teeth. Bad habits are easy to grasp but unfortunately difficult to break. People don’t realize that these normal looking habits are actually ruining  their teeth. Here are 6 habits that are actually bad habits   for your teeth.

• Drinking a lot of  soda, soft drinks or citric fruit juices

These drnks removes enamel coating from your teeth. Enamel is outer protective coating on your teeth which is hard compare to inner parts of teeth. If enamel gets washed away from your teeth you may start experiencing sensitivity after having cold and hot beverages. The best way to save enamel is to reduce the intake, using straws and rinsing your mouth with water for about 20-30 seconds after ingestion of these drinks.

• Acidity and regular vomiting

Some people have a habit to vomit whenever they have acidity, some follow the Ayurvedic Vamana therapy without guidance or some people with eating disorders like bulimia often do purging to get rid of extra food in fear of gaining weight. In our digestive system whenever food goes inside the stomach it becomes acidic to digest it. During vomiting or purging this acidic food comes back to  oral cavity.  These acids wear off enamel from the teeth. Frequent habit of purging may result into erosion of your teeth and  you may start experiencing sensitivity.

• Nail / pen / pencil biting or pin holding in front teeth

This kind of habit chips off enamel from your teeth. It results in an unaesthetic look and causes sensitivity of teeth. In worst conditions, it may cause tooth fracture.

• Using your tooth to open your beer or tearing plastic tags?

Well even this can chip off and fracture enamel and teeth. Gives you one more reason to have sensitive teeth! And if tooth gets a lot of fracture, it may require removal. So it’s wise to use a bottle opener or a scissor the next time you chill out or shop.

• Brushing hard

Most common false belief is if I clean my teeth with force, they will get cleaned better. But unfortunately it is not true! This can in fact damage the enamel on your teeth. If you are using a tooth brush with hard bristles, it applies maximum pressure during brushing and creates notches on your teeth, gum recession, sensitivity and abrasive loss of tooth structure near gums .

Some people have a habit of biting on to their tooth brush. If your tooth brush bristles gets spread out or splayed, and you continue to use such a tooth brush, this can also damage your teeth. So if you observe your toothbrush bristles are getting spread out, then that means it’s time to have a new toothbrush. Usually, toothbrushes must be changed once every 3 months.

• Clenching and bruxism habit

Clenching and bruxism habits damage your teeth by removing enamel and dentin. That may results into fractured teeth, unaesthetic looks, shortened down and sensitive teeth. So if you think you have clenching and bruxism habits, consult your dentist and have night guards made from your dentist. Night guard is an appliance that you need to wear during sleep  for tooth protection. Clenching and bruxism are usually  due to stress.  so keep your mind as calm as possible. You can do meditation for the same.

            Visit your dentist regularly once a year to check oral health status of yours, ask your dentist about right method of brushing, right tooth brush to use. If ever you find sensitive teeth because of habits mentioned above, consult your dentist. Your dentist can suggest you the available treatment options for you.