Terrible Tooth Tricks!

Do you treat your mouth like a Swiss army knife, chewing, tearing, ripping and pulling through any and every thing?  See our list for some of the worst mis-uses of your pearly-whites!

Toothpicks: These are great for baking and craft time, not so great for your mouth.  Even though “tooth” is right in the name, all you need to do is look at the sharp, pointed tip and see that you could do some major damage.  Tearing up your gums and giving bacteria a handy entry to your body is only one problem.  You could end up with gum disease, or even a sliver in your gums that could lead to infection.  Yikes!  Use dental floss to get food and plaque out from between your teeth and avoid these problems!

Hanging on by a thread: Do you use your teeth to cut thread, string, tape or even plastic?  Doing this can lead to some serious cuts on your gums, lips and tongue or even broken teeth.  Find some scissors instead.

The price of beauty:  Bobby pins are a great hair accessory, but they can cause a major mouth mishap when you open them using your teeth.  You could jab and harm your gums, and repeating this action day after day could damage tooth enamel and leave you open to sensitive teeth, or even broken teeth.  Use your fingers to open bobby pins and your beautiful smile will match your beautiful hair!

Nailed it:  Do you bite or chew your nails?  Nails are hard, and biting down on them repeatedly causes lots of stress on your teeth.  Over time, you could see chipped or worn teeth.  Not to mention the damage that a torn nail in your mouth could do to your gums.  Germs often hide under fingernails, so anytime you put something in your mouth there is a chance of swallowing those germs, or getting them in the tears in your gums.  That could cause a lot of pain and infection.  Not biting and chewing on your nails, or any other hard substance like ice or candy, can leave you healthier all around.

Remember, your teeth are not tools!  If you treat them well, you can avoid pain, illness and lots of dental work.  Your smile is a work of art; make good choices to keep it that way!  Call the Oral Health Team at 519-355-1071, ext. 5700 for more information.