Bad Habits That Can Harm Your Teeth

People often engage in certain habits involving the mouth that are detrimental to oral health. The impact of these behaviors ranges from minor to major. Oftentimes we are not even aware that we are doing things that affect our mouths in such negative ways. By breaking these habits now, you can prevent more serious damage later. A few of the more common habits include the following:

1. Sucking your thumb. We’ve all heard that this is something we need to discourage our children from doing, but why? Thumb sucking interferes with the positioning of the upper and lower front teeth, causing the upper teeth to splay out and the lower teeth to fold back into the mouth. In addition, it can cause an openbite of the front teeth when the back teeth are closed together. These changes in the occlusion/bite position of the teeth can only be corrected by orthodontic treatment and, on occasion, surgical repositioning of the upper and lower jaw relationships.
2. Sucking on lemons. This habit is often done for the misguided purpose of “whitening” the teeth. If done on a regular basis, the citric acid in the lemons is so strong that it can leach important minerals from the teeth and erode their outer surfaces. This can cause a multitude of problems, including chronic sensitivity to cold food and drinks, a chalky and worn look to the enamel, weakening of the teeth leading to chipping and cracking, and a greater incidence of tooth decay caused by loss of protective enamel. Drinking citrus fruit juices and eating fruit containing citric acid are not necessarily harmful, as long as they aren’t held in the mouth for prolonged periods of time.
3. Overzealous brushing. A potential cause of gum recession and loss of supporting bone around the teeth is excessive scrubbing of your teeth, including brushing from side-to-side or up-and-down as if your toothbrush is a jackhammer on full power. When you brush too vigorously, the bristles of the toothbrush can drive the gums away from the tooth and eventually lead to exposed root surfaces, causing increased sensitivity to cold and touch. There is a correct way to brush that is gentle on the gums and effectively cleans the teeth. In our practice, we make sure that each patient receives proper instruction on correct cleaning of the mouth. In fact, you may want to consider switching to an electric toothbrush and let it do all the work.
4. Clenching and/or grinding of the teeth. This dysfunctional habit is also known by the term “bruxism” and can lead to all sorts of dental problems. Bruxism is most often done on a subconscious level in response to emotional stress. Most people who brux would stop if they could get rid of all the stress in their lives. Chronic bruxism can lead to a variety of dental problems including excessive wear of the teeth; chipping, cracking, and fracturing of teeth; loosening of teeth; severe toothache; soreness of the facial muscles; headaches; limited ability to open the mouth; and pain in the jaw joints. This habit often occurs at night while asleep, and is not something that a person is necessarily aware of doing. Dentistry can offer solutions to this problem – while we may not always be able to get a person to stop doing it, since it does often occur subconsciously, we can limit and control the potential for damage that it can cause to the structures of the mouth.
5. Biting into and chewing hard ice. This habit is quite common and causes a tremendous amount of bite stress to be placed on the teeth. We know from geology that icebergs once existed in North America and carved out the Great Lakes. Ice actually broke down rock and reduced mountains to rubble. Imagine, if you will, what the impact of biting into ice cubes can do to your teeth. It can lead to tooth pain, cracking, fracture, and in some cases, total breakage of a tooth to the point where it cannot be repaired. Avoid chewing hard ice at all costs. If you must chew ice, make sure that it is crushed and slushy.
6. Holding pens, pencils, and other hard objects between the front teeth. Similar to chewing ice, this habit puts a great amount of force against the teeth. There is a limit as to how much pressure a tooth can withstand and remain healthy, and activities such as these can exceed the tolerance limits of your teeth. It is always a good idea to keep the teeth apart (“lips together, teeth apart”) when the mouth is at rest, and avoid unnecessary placement of hard objects between the teeth.

These are just a few examples of damaging habits that have an impact on your mouth. You help yourself to the degree that you avoid engaging in any and all of them. Most of us, when we are young, believe that we are bulletproof and immune to harm. As we get older, we realize that habits such as these have a cumulative impact on our lives. The sooner we can eliminate such activities, the greater our opportunity for long-term optimal health.