Harmful habits for the tooth

Some seemingly harmless daily habits may damage our oral health. Such habits may cause tooth decay, destroy the enamel, and fracture the teeth. Although the tooth enamel is the hardest part of the human body, it is not resistant to anything.

What habits are damaging to teeth

Most of the bad habits that damage teeth include a series of physical and external actions such as chewing ice or doing strenuous exercise without dental protection. In general, biting or chewing hard objects and foods are among the wrong habits that can damage teeth.

Chewing ice

Chewing and crushing hard pieces of ice can cause small cracks on teeth or chip them. The continuation of this strange and harmful habit can irritate the tooth nerve and cause toothache. Dental and maxillofacial injuries are common among athletes of violent sports.

Exercise without dental protection

Dental protection is a very important point that many athletes do not care about. In martial arts or sports involving intense physical contact, such as basketball, football, and hockey, athletes should wear a mouth guard made of a substance like soft plastic to protect the anterior teeth of the maxilla. The athletes who do not use such protective equipment will be exposed to blows or damages to the tooth nerve, which can cause tooth loosening, fracture, and even extraction. Such incidents have repeatedly occurred in sports fields. You can use the mouth guards available in the market or visit a dentist to fabricate a special guard for you.

Chewing objects

Many of us may chew the bottom of a pencil or pen while focusing, studying, or doing something. Similar to chewing ice, this very destructive habit can cause tooth cracks or chips. Chewing sugar-free gums is the best option when need to chew something to focus or do something. Sugar-free gums protect the teeth against the acid produced by bacteria by stimulating the secretion of saliva.

Hulling oilseeds

This pleasurable habit, which seems impossible to quit, can seriously damage your front teeth. Having this habit for a long time causes minor and imperceptible damages to the teeth whose cumulative effects, in the long run, can lead to enamel erosion and tooth cracks and chips. Since it is difficult and costly to repair such dental damages, the best way to prevent them is to avoid hulling oilseeds. If you cannot break this habit, eat the oilseeds with a softer hull, such as pumpkin seed.

Eating potato chips

This is a wrong assumption that starchy foods do not cause tooth decay because they are not sweet. Anaerobic bacteria in the oral cavity can convert these foods into simple sugars and make them into acids that erode tooth enamel.

These acids can affect the teeth for up to 20 minutes and even more if the food sticks around the teeth. Due to its nature, potato chips easily remain around the teeth for a long time and can cause tooth decay. Therefore, you need to immediately brush and floss your teeth whenever you eat potato chips.