We humans are prone to adopting habits throughout the course of our lives, and not all of them are beneficial. Bad dental hygiene habits, for example, are difficult to break and can lead to significant discomfort and financial outlay if not addressed early on.
If you want to keep your teeth for the rest of your life, it’s important to take preventative measures like maintaining a regular schedule for dental checkups and cleanings and adopting other healthy behaviors. If you want a brighter, healthier smile, here are some of the worst habits you’ll need to quit.
Nail Biting
Biting your nails is one of the hardest habits to break, mainly because it may seem harmless to bite your nails because the only thing you hurt is your nails. But biting your nails can damage your teeth and make your jaw work badly. There are many ways to stop biting your nails. For example, you can coat your nails with nail polish that tastes bad if you bite them.
Biting your nails can be a habit or something you do when you’re nervous or stressed. Do a quick search on Google or talk to your doctor. There are many ways to keep your hands from getting bored and save your teeth at the same time.
Using The Wrong Toothbrush
When you use the right toothbrush, you can help yourself when it comes to healthy teeth and gums. Getting the right toothbrush can make a big difference in how well you take care of your teeth and help you have better oral health. Whether you have braces, too much plaque, or teeth that hurt when you brush them, you need to find a toothbrush that fits your needs.
It’s an easy habit to fall into if you have the wrong toothbrush. Perhaps you don’t know that you can choose different ones, or perhaps you keep forgetting to get a new one. No matter what, however, switching to a better toothbrush will make a huge difference that you’ll notice right away.
Smoking Or Chewing Tobacco
When it comes to your teeth, nothing is worse than smoking or chewing tobacco. Each is bad for your teeth since it causes gum disease, at which point the teeth deteriorate and eventually fall out. Chewing tobacco promotes cavities and mouth cancer, while smoking causes bad breath and yellowing teeth from the chemicals in the smoke.
Tobacco use has negative consequences for your oral health in addition to the obvious effects on your overall health, so it’s a habit you need to break as soon as you possibly can.
Chewing Ice Cubes
A lot of people think that ice is just as healthy as water. It doesn’t have any sugar and keeps you hydrated, so surely it can’t hurt. But if you bite down on hard, frozen ice cubes, you might chip or even break a tooth.
If you snack on ice cubes all the time, it can irritate the soft tissues inside your teeth and cause you to have frequent toothaches. Instead of ice, you should chew sugar-free gum.