Horrible Oral Health Habits

To achieve optimal oral health, you need to be more proactive than simply waiting for yearly check-ups, so your dentist can assess your mouth. By then you might already have some serious problems, and be setting yourself up some severe discomfort, not to mention lengthy methods to recuperate. The solution is to cut off the issue before it takes root. To give you a head start, we have some horrible oral health habits, and tips on how to overcome them.

Teeth Grinding

Teeth grinding, also known as bruxism, can be a habit that occurs without people even realising it. Usually an act to relive stress both when you’re awake and during sleep, it can lead to your teeth becoming chipped or cracked, as well as an overall aching paint in your jaw’s joints.

During the day, if you find yourself in a stressful environment, try finding alternative relaxation avenues that won’t cause damage, like deep breaths or positive visualisation. When you’re asleep, consider using a customised mouth-guard, which will prevent your teeth from touching.

Over-Brushing

To get rid of all those bad germs, you can never brush your teeth hard enough, right?

Wrong!

Although consistent teeth brushing is essential to maintaining healthy oral hygiene, a too harsh brushing technique, or ‘over-brushing’, in which excessive force is applied can actually damage your tooth and gums. Especially if you are using a toothbrush with hard bristles. Instead, always use soft bristled, electric brushes that do the work for you, massaging your teeth rather than sanding them down.

Nail Biting

Parents over the world tell their children not to bite their nails, but it’s a habit that can travel into adulthood. It places harmful stress on your jaw at an awkward position that is not aligned with normal, healthy movement. Continuing to indulge this habit can lead to issues with the joint connecting your jawbone to your skull.

To overcome the urge to bite down on your nails, anti-biting polishes are available and prove effective as a short-term solution whilst you’re just trying to break the habit. For those that still find it difficult, nail biting is similar to teeth grinding as an act used to deal with stress, so perhaps be conscious of it surfacing as a reliving practise in stressful situations.

Sugary Foods

Yes, overconsuming sugary foods can be considered a ‘habit’. Some people might see it as a choice, but many follow diets from week to week, and fall into loops where they continuously eat the same food almost as an unconscious association with the process. Sugary foods lead to tooth decay as the oral bacteria found inside your mouth feed on the sugar, and then create an acid that eats away at enamel, likely to result in cavities and maybe even tooth loss.

Just as eating sugary foods is a bad habit, however, sticking to a healthy, nutrient-rich diet can also become habitual. The only hard part is making the change and breaking out of the routine!