15 Ways to Destroy Your Teeth, PART 2
A Brief Recap This four-part article post takes a look at the top 15 bad habits and behaviors that could wreck your dental enamel and put your oral health at a severe risk. In our previous article post, the first installment of the series, we presented the first three bad habits that could seriously compromise the quality and longevity of your smile:
4. Using Your Teeth as Tools
Your teeth are tools… for eating and nothing else. Everyone is guilty of having used their teeth to tear open a package or force open a particularly tenacious container. But these habits are extremely damaging to your dental enamel and can lead to its erosion, not to mention the chipping, cracking and fracturing of the crown. And these fissures can provide bacteria with a direct route into the very heart of the tooth. Chewing ice and hard candy is also extremely destructive to your teeth, so avoid these habits!
5. Favoring Vanity Over Your Mouth Guard
Regardless of how creative a design you go for, mouth guards will never be haute couture. And unfortunately, they are not the sexiest accessory designed for the human body. BUT, mouth guards are entirely necessary for people that participate in contact sports. There is always a risk of accidental trauma to the teeth and gums in sports and a mouth guard could literally save your smile from obliteration should you ever get an elbow, baseball or fist in the face. Refusing to wear protection in the interests of appearance is completely counter-intuitive, because a gappy and bloody smile will never win a beauty contest against a mouth guard.
6. Grind Your Teeth
Teeth grinding is a physical manifestation of the stress, anxiety, anger and frustration we tend to carry around with us. We can do it both in our sleep and whilst awake, and while we are scarcely aware of doing it, teeth grinding can cause devastating damage to our dental enamel! Bruxism, a severe and chronic form of teeth grinding, can completely wear down the hard outer layer of the crown until the softer and more vulnerable dentine (yellow color) becomes exposed (see image below). When this happens, our teeth can become incredibly vulnerable to bacterial infection and decay. Your dentist will be able to tell whether you suffer from this condition and will fit you with a mouth guard to limit the damage your teeth grinding does at night. Psychologically, you may want to identify the sources of stress and frustration in your life and do something about it.
7. Only Ever Drink Bottled/Filtered Water
The body’s most important source of calcium and fluoride comes from the water we drink. Many brands of bottled water, via the filtration process, eliminate these essential minerals. So either stick to tap water, or make sure you buy bottled mineral water that has these important trace elements in it.
To find out more about the bad habits and behaviors that could condemn the quality of your smile to an early grave, stay tuned for part three of our four-part series.
The post 15 Ways to Destroy Your Teeth, PART 2 appeared first on Kenneth R. Levine, DDS.
The post 15 Ways to Destroy Your Teeth, PART 2 appeared first on Kenneth R. Levine, DDS.
