Sometimes we engage in bad habits without realizing it. Take a look at some common bad habits that can damage your smile below.

1. Smoking not only has a detrimental impact to overall health, it is also particularly damaging to your teeth. Besides causing unsightly yellow staining, smoking can also encourage tooth decay, worsen gum disease, and cause an unpleasant smelling breath. Ideally, discontinuing smoking altogether should be the optimal goal, however, cutting down will also deliver a positive impact.

2. Grinding Your Teeth. When you grind your teeth, purposely or unconsciously during your sleep, you are eroding the precious enamel on your teeth’s surface. To prevent the clenching and grinding that occurs primarily at night, consult your dentist for a mouth guard. This will prevent your teeth from touching and will protect against enamel erosion, which leads to exposed dentin, causing excessive sensitivity to changes in temperature.

3. Chewing on Anything That Isn’t Food. Chewing on different items is often done without noticing, like chewing on pencils during exams or biting your nails when bored or anxious. Although these actions may initially seem harmless, they are actually quite damaging to the enamel of your teeth. Over time, your teeth will look worn and may become discolored, all while your enamel breaks down. Try to remain mindful of any chewing habits outside of foods to prevent unnecessary injuries to your teeth.

4. Brushing Your Teeth Too Hard. Brushing too hard may not only cause enamel erosion, it could also cause gum irritation, leading to a receding gum line. Talk to your dentist about proper brushing habits, including toothbrush type and massaging movements.

5. Sticky Chewy Candies. It almost goes without saying that sugary treats are well-known for causing extra dental visits throughout the year – a sweet tooth is a hurting tooth without proper oral hygiene. These sticky candies, especially, get stuck within the grooves of your teeth, making removal difficult. Without properly cleaned teeth, you are looking at the potential of wearing down your enamel and causing unsightly cavities, issues that can be prevented to protect your beautiful smile.

6. Thumb Sucking in Children. When working with children, this is one of the main risky factors that challenge the proper development of teeth. Thumb sucking will cause teeth to move around, creating an improper bite. The most common effect is the top front teeth protruding forward, creating a gap between the top and bottom row of teeth. This often leads to the requirement of braces to correct the bite; however, when the thumb sucking habit is addressed early on, further corrective dental work can be prevented.

7. Crushing Ice with Your Teeth. Chewing on ice can also damage your teeth by creating tiny fractures throughout. With these small cracks in your teeth, they weaken, making the possibility of a cracked or broken tooth much more possible. These detrimental effects are exacerbated for those who use braces and can create a vicious cycle of requiring corrective dental work that can be prevented with mindful chewing practices.

8. Using Your Teeth as A Tool . Although teeth are a helpful tool that allow us to chew through our food, they are not meant as a third hand to hold items in your mouth and especially not to test their strength with actions like opening bottles. When we use our teeth for actions they are not designed for, we expose them to the potential of damage, including chips and fractures.

   With some simple adjustments, you can prevent the need for costly corrective dental work and improve your smile (and confidence!).