Stop Nail Biting
You have been nagged on by your parents, friends and colleagues and now even your children but still you just can’t seem to quit biting your nails. Nail biting can be a habit which is difficult to get rid off especially since it seems to have no obvious harmful affects.
- A study released by the Academy of General Dentistry tells us that habitual chomping of your nails can lead to fractured, cracked, chipped and worn front teeth. This occurs due to the excessive stress on your front teeth due to many and frequent episodes of unhindered indulgence in this habit(as the biters call it).
- Other Dental concerns that the nail biters can be subjected to are damaged (Read:Sore,torn and painful) gum tissue which is mainly due to sharp edges of nails. The bacteria in the nails(Yes! they exist and lots of them too) can spread in the mouth and the bacteria in the mouth can spread to the nail bed and consequently the blood stream.
- People wearing an orthodontic brace are affected to a greater extent by nail biting. This is because of the pressure exerted by nail biting in addition to the already existing massive pressure by the orthodontic brace which the teeth are finding hard to cope with.
- Wearing a mouth guard is suggested as a deterrent to nail biting. In addition to this, professional dentists have been found to use therapy techniques like upward resting of tongue with teeth apart and lips shut to prevent further tooth damage.
Nail biting
Now, you can hold this study against any biter in your vicinity.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
holy crap dude , I bite my nails like NUTZ , and yes I have had many cavity problems , 2 root canals , and I STILL floss , brush and mouth wash like crazy 3 times a day.
I am 100% agreed with you article. Nail biting can lead to many dental diseases.
@rohin – it’s not cavity problems.. those are caused by sugar and acids.
I bite my nails and you can see wear on the bottom teeth pretty easily.
I can stop for a couple months..The first 2 weeks are the worst.. but then I start in again, and mow them off.
I’m staggered that most dentists don’t seem to realise this. I have damage to my teeth, and I know it’s caused by nearly 40 years of nail-biting. Yet every time I visit a new dentist, they tell me I must grind my teeth. I don’t – I’ve even taken part in sleep trials and I do NOT grind my teeth. Yet only one dentist has ever looked at my teeth, then my hands, and told me what I already know -it’s the nail-biting that’s at fault. Don’t dentists get told this simple and oh-so-obvious fact during their training?
I have been bitting my nails since i could remeber….. it has cause my fingernails to be deformed. And i would consantly get infections around my fingernails its so nasty…. Usually i get my nails done with a hard plastic that goes over them. I know someone who soaked her nails in chicken poop…. ( i never did) I also say to my self everytime i stick a finger in my mouth is self control and remover it. Its very hard…. I have been diagonsed with anxiety disorder and everytime i get nervous, scared, bored, i bite… I even become obbsessed with it and i stop feeling pain and keep on bitting and i started to tear apart the wskin around my nails with my teeth.