This 8-part series provides an in-depth look at seven different habits, addictions and behaviors that are deadly to your oral health.
Welcome back to our 8-part article series on the different addictions, behaviors and habits that are deadly to the health of your teeth and gums. In our previous installment, Part 5, we discussed the dangers of a diet that is high in sugar and starch, which provides oral bacteria with the energy it needs to proliferate far faster. In this article, the sixth installment of the series, the Bronx dental implants specialist will be talking to us about deadly dental sin # 5: being rough with your teeth.
What Does it Mean to be Rough With Your Teeth?
Your teeth are made from the hardest substance in your body: dental enamel. Enamel comprises the very hard and protective outer layer of the tooth’s structure. This protection is necessary because your teeth are designed to withstand some pretty taxing wear-and-tear! They’re also meant to last you a lifetime. But, just because your pearly whites are strong enough to endure close to a lifetime’s worth of eating, doesn’t mean you can be rough with them!
Your teeth were not designed to go up against anything harder than food. The following habits are therefore exceptionally bad for them:
- Chewing ice
- Biting into hard candies
- Prying open containers
- Tearing packaging
- Opening bottles
- Playing sports without a mouth guard
The Consequences of Misuse
There’s always one of “those guys” at a party: the one who drops onto all fours and starts doing push-ups in the middle of the dance floor, or the one who tries to open a beer bottle with his teeth in an effort to show off. This behavior may cater for some deep impulsive need to demonstrate strength and manliness in front of a room full of mini-skirted damsels, but it certainly does not do your teeth any favors!
“You’d be surprised at the number of patients we see who have lost teeth due to accidental trauma sustained in this kind of environment,” says the Bridgeport dental implants specialist. “Whether it’s a bar brawl or something as trifling as a party trick gone wrong, this kind of behavior can have serious consequences. I once treated a man who had tried to pick up a table with his teeth because he had seen it on television. He cracked both of his front bottom incisors right down to the roots.”
Silly party tricks, using your teeth as tools or playing contact sports without the correct protection all constitute a misuse of your pearly whites and the consequences can be painful and expensive to repair. Chipped, cracked, fractured teeth, or even teeth that fall out all together, can be a result of the physical trauma done by being rough.
“Never use your teeth as tools, or for anything other than smiling and eating,” says the Bronx dental implants specialist. “Always wear a mouth guard if you play contact sports and don’t chew ice or any other hard, crunchy foods. Or else I’ll be seeing you in my office sooner rather than later!”
Stay Tuned for Part 7
Stay tuned for the seventh installment of this 8-part article series in which Bronx and Bridgeport dental implants specialists discuss the number six transgression against good oral health: teeth grinding and jaw clenching.