1) Nail biting
You can probably already imagine that nail-biting has the potential for cracking, chipping, or wearing down the teeth over time. However, nail biting is also problematic for your jaw, eventually leading to jaw dysfunction considering you’re keeping your jaw at an unnatural angle while biting your nails.
Keeping your nails trimmed short, wearing fake nails, or wearing a bitter-tasting nail polish can help with combating nail biting.
2) Opening packaging with teeth
This is a common habit for many. It’s important to note that when you open up packaging with your teeth or use your teeth as a tool, you’re increasing your chances of dealing with a cracked or chipped tooth.
Remember that unless you opt for dental implant to replace the damaged tooth or still have baby teeth, your tooth will be chipped for life. Opening a product with scissors or a knife is safer, and your teeth will thank you.
3) Smoking
Tobacco-containing products such as cigarettes can increase one’s chances of developing gum disease and oral-related cancers.
As well as this, tobacco can stain the teeth permanently. Limiting or quitting smoking or and your use of other tobacco products can greatly help your oral standing.
4) Chewing on ice
We get it, chewing on ice is addicting. However, this can damage the enamel of your teeth. Because ice has a crystalline structure and because your tooth enamel does too, this can cause one of the two to break.
Sometimes, it’s your tooth that ends up breaking or chipping, unfortunately. Avoid chewing on ice as much as possible or at least chew on smaller, finer pieces of ice such as shaved ice to reduce the chances of tooth damage.
5) Hard tooth-brushing
A lot of people believe the harder and faster you brush, the better and quicker the task gets done. In reality, it’s more harmful for your teeth as it can irritate the gums and damage both the teeth and tooth enamel.
For this reason, it’s important to resort to less vigorous, two-minute sessions of brushing your pearly whites. Your teeth should not hurt after brushing, but they also shouldn’t still feel gritty or have particles of food between the teeth afterward either. If you still find that you brush too hard and aggressively, try brushing with your non-dominant hand.