While biting your nails has a number of potential side effects for your nails and fingers of course, there are potentially more serious ones for your mouth you should also worry about.
Biting finger nails can chip or crack teeth, move teeth out of alignment, wear off enamel, introduce infections into your mouth and even increase the chance that you grind your teeth which on its own can lead to jaw pain, severe headaches, tooth sensitivity and recessed gums. Nail biting may also significantly increase required dental work over the long term, too.
Nail Biting Effects On Teeth
Back in the early 2000s, the Academy Of General Dentistry (AGD) reported that an additional $4,000 worth of dental treatment was required due to nail biting. Damage to the teeth caused by nail biting quite often requires major and costly restorative treatment.
More specifically, nail biting can damage the teeth, mouth and jaw in a number of ways. Here is a look at common damage to the mouth area that nail biting can cause.
Chipping and Cracking
Biting our nails puts a great deal of pressure and stress on the teeth. You’re basically taking a relatively hard object (fingernail) and pressing it hard against another hard object (your teeth). More specifically it concentrates a high amount of pressure and force on one part of your tooth which can lead to chipping or worse, cracking of the tooth.
Tooth Alignment
As mentioned above, the AGD in the past has referred to $4,000 as being the amount of money that nail biters on average may have to spend to fix tooth problems related to nail biting. Teeth can be moved out of alignment due to constant nail biting due to the stress that it places upon the teeth. If you’ve ever had braces you know the cost and time (and pain) experienced because of them. I had full train track braces for over four years and recall the pain for several days after visiting the orthodontist for a monthly tightening of braces.
And people who have braces are at even higher risk since their teeth are being moved by the braces and the force caused by nail biting may shorten the length of the root because of a phenomenon known as root resorption. The purpose of braces is to move teeth into proper alignment. Braces thus place a tremendous amount of stress upon teeth as they are shifting. Nail biting may not only damage the root of the teeth, it may hurt the success of orthodontic treatment and lengthen the time and cost.
Enamel Erosion
Enamel is the protective coating on our teeth that help to protect against acids and from the actions of chewing, biting and grinding food. Tooth enamel may wear away over time due to teeth grinding, acid reflux, excessive consumption of soda, fruit drinks and other drinks with high citrus and phosphoric acids, dry mouth and other stomach problems. Enamel can be worn away over time and can also chip or crack.
Tooth enamel abrasion can occur from excessive nail biting along with biting of other objects like pens or pen caps, bottle caps and things of that nature. If you combine this with bad brushing habits – excessive tooth brushing for example – you can prematurely wear and age your teeth and damage enamel as a result.
Mouth Infections
Take it from a dentist, nail biting can potentially cause a number of issues inside the mouth:
Nail biting also causes stress to your gums, and there is an added risk of bitten nails tearing into the gum tissue. In the long run, this can result in gum disease, which will eventually cause loose teeth, missing teeth and other related medical ailments. Another consideration is that the bacteria in the nails can spread in the mouth and the bacteria in the mouth can spread to the nail bed and consequently into the blood stream, resulting in other health complications.
North Burnaby Dental Group
They go on to list oral herpes and thrush as other mouth diseases that may occur due to nail biting. Dirty fingers can introduce many diseases and bacteria into the mouth and gums.
Teeth Grinding
Also known as Bruxism, teeth grinding wears down otherwise good teeth prematurely. Bruxism in may affect 8% – 31% of the general population but nail biters may be more susceptible to it also increasing the chance of tooth damage.
How do you know if you may have Bruxism? Common signs include jaw clicking, flattened tips of teeth, sensitive teeth due to eroded enamel, and constant headaches often upon waking up when you grind your teeth in your sleep.
Jaw Problems
Excessive nail biting can lead to a jaw disorder known as temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ). Nail biting puts a tremendous amount of stress on our jaw which can lead to headaches, jaw pain and other side effects. In extreme cases it may put your jaw out of alignment which can lead to further problems.
Conclusion
There are a number of nail biting effects on teeth that may create problems related to the mouth, teeth, gums and jaw that can lead to pain and costly dental bills. Nail biting can especially be dangerous for people with braces since your teeth are already under stress from being forcibly moved by the braces and the stress of nail biting increases this. In extreme cases, nail biting may lead of chipping and cracking of teeth as well as increasing the chance of teeth grinding and jaw problems.
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