16 habits that harm your teeth

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

To keep your teeth healthy, you need to brush them twice a day, rinse them, go to the dentist twice a year. And quit these habits.

1. Go in for sports without protection

You wouldn't play hockey without a helmet, would you? Or boxing without a mouthguard? If you are doing any contact sports, then do not start without special protection for your teeth. Never neglect your equipment. Otherwise, your tooth will end up being one of the five million that breaks down on sports fields every year. According to the American Dental Association, protective devices - helmets and mouth guards - save 200,000 teeth a year.

Compare how much protection costs versus new teeth and make the right choice.

Wear protection if you are involved in the following sports: MMA, boxing, wrestling, hockey, soccer, basketball, American football, water polo, skatebroding, rugby. In fact, the list may be longer. Special protective equipment not only save the teeth, but also the tongue, gums and cheeks from biting during sports.

2. Get involved in tongue piercing

Dentists don't like tongue piercings and all those solid metal barbells, and here's why:

• A piercing can damage a tooth and even split it.
• The piercing can put pressure on the gums, causing the gums to thin (so that even a tooth can be lost) and become tender.
• There are millions of bacteria in the mouth. Decorations make them multiply faster, creating an unhealthy environment.
• The piercing can be bitten, and if it also contains stones, they can crumble.
• The puncture may become inflamed, and if swelling starts from this, then there will be difficulty in breathing.
• Some metals in jewelry are allergic.
• The piercing can damage the nerves in the tongue, making it unresponsive. This is usually temporary.
• The piercing can affect the x-rays of the teeth.

3. There are jelly candies

Everyone knows about sugar, which causes tooth decay. But some sweets are more dangerous than others. Those that stick to teeth, for example, are harmful. If the jelly particles get stuck between the teeth, it is not so easy to pull them out, and saliva cannot neutralize them. In addition to jelly, caramels, dried candied fruits, marmalade are also dangerous. But they are all available in options with sugar substitutes, and as a last resort, you can simply brush your teeth after you fill up with sweets.

4. Treat cough with lollipops

They relieve coughs and sore throats, but if you have cavities, hard candy will make it worse, because most of them are full of sugar. By constantly absorbing these lozenges, we create an ideal breeding ground in the mouth for bacteria that destroy teeth and gums. When choosing lollipops, look at the ingredients and look for sugar-free options.

5. Grind your teeth

In fact, many people grit their teeth at night. This phenomenon is called bruxism, heredity is to blame for it or anxiety and stress. Usually teeth grind in a dream, but sometimes it manifests itself during wakefulness.

In general, this is not a dangerous condition, but it can damage teeth: thin enamel, lead to tooth breakage or loss.

Many do not even know that they grind their teeth in their sleep. But if in the morning for some unknown reason the throat, ears, head hurts, if overstrain is felt in the jaw, and teeth for some reason crumble and fall out, then perhaps bruxism is to blame.

If its cause is stress, then you need to resolve this issue with psychologists, and the dentist will only advise you to protect your teeth and change your position in bed.

6. Drink soda

Sugar and acids are a killer combination for enamel. Even if there is a sweetener in lemonade, there is still acid left in it, which destroys enamel and leads to tooth sensitivity.

It is better not to drink soda for at least 30 minutes after brushing your teeth, and if you drink often, then through a straw.

7. Open bottles and packages

Teeth are made for food and smiles! It is not recommended to use it for other purposes. Teeth are not knives, openers, or scissors. Therefore, it is necessary to open packages, bottles, cut off threads and hold objects with special tools, otherwise teeth can be broken.

8. Drink fruit juices

They are, of course, healthier than soda, but they are also full of sugar. About the same as in lemonade. So take fruit juices with water to avoid leaving all the sugar in your mouth.

9. Eat potato chips

Thin chips first break into small pieces that crawl between the teeth, and then stick to them under the influence of saliva. The effect is like a gummy candy. These stuck food pieces are fertile soil for bacterial plaque to grow, so at least rinse your mouth out after snacking.

10. Snack regularly

As it is already clear, if you constantly chew something, you will have to constantly rinse your mouth or brush your teeth so that food does not get stuck between your teeth. But often wielding a brush is also a dubious occupation, from which there will be no sense, but the sensitivity of the teeth may increase. Better to regulate food intake and snack on tough fruits and vegetables that help brush your teeth. For example, apples or carrots.

11. Chewing on pencils and pens

Often times, people chew on the tip of a pencil or pen when worried or trying to focus. This can damage your teeth or gums. Try to relieve stress in harmless ways. For example, sugar-free gum works.

12. Drink a lot of coffee

Your favorite morning cup of coffee, unfortunately, can hurt your teeth. Caffeine causes a dry mouth, and a lack of saliva leads to the development of tooth decay. And if you drink coffee with sugar, then this process will accelerate.

13. Smoking

Need another reason to quit smoking? Please. Tobacco also dries out the mucous membrane of the mouth and increases the amount of plaque on the teeth. Also, smokers are more likely to have periodontitis. Also, smoking increases the risk of throat or lip cancer, and in general, neoplasms in the oral cavity.

14. Drink red wine

Remember how difficult it is to get a red wine stain off a white tablecloth. Now imagine what this drink does to your teeth.

Three components of red wine stain teeth:

• A chromogen that gives a deep color to red wine.
• An acid that slightly damages the enamel so that stains can more easily penetrate the tooth.
• Tannins are substances that fix the dye in the enamel.

To avoid staining your teeth, snack on wine with protein foods (cheese, for example), drink clean water after a glass of wine, or chew gum to release more saliva, which will wash away the paint.

Fortunately, traces of red wine do not last long.

15. Drink white wine

There are no strong dyes in white wine, but they can be in the food you eat. And tannins and acids, which are in white wine, as well as in red, these same dyes will fix on the teeth. Just watch what you eat, and do not forget that after eating foods with acids (wine, that is), you cannot brush your teeth for 30 minutes, so as not to destroy the enamel.

16. Overeat

Binge eating assumes that a person consumes a lot of sweets, sugar, fast food and anything that contributes to the development of tooth decay.

Overeating triggers another eating disorder - bulimia, in which a person consumes food without measure and causes himself to vomit. Since the contents of the stomach are acidic, frequent vomiting leads to the fact that the teeth and tissues around them are destroyed. Eating disorders are treated by specialists, and they are not dentists, but psychiatrists or psychotherapists.