Having great teeth means a great deal to your overall health and well-being. It gives you the confidence and focus that you need to go about your day-to-day feeling good about yourself. Having bad teeth does the exact opposite.
Maybe you’ve noticed that your teeth have gotten progressively worse over the past few years. Perhaps you have always had bad teeth but have never taken the initiative to have them fixed. Whatever the case may be, there are probably a few bad habits that can be chalked up leading factors for your teeth’s condition.
Here are just a few of the many bad habits that can damage your teeth over time:
- Gummy Candy
What’s better than a bag of gummy bears to treat yourself after a long week on the job, right? While those one-off rewarding scenarios are fine, many people consume gummy and sugary candy on a daily basis. These types of candy can lead to your tooth decay because of their sugar content.
Also, the gummy texture becomes considerably harder for your teeth over time and causes them to move around.
- Fruit Juice
You were probably taught as a child to prioritize drinking a cup of orange juice every morning with breakfast. While that’s a great way to intake some essential vitamins and minerals to kick off your day, too much of it will cause damage to your teeth.
Fruits are carb-heavy because of all the sugar in them. Unfortunately, sugar is a leading reason for tooth decay, which can be a consequence of drinking too much fruit juice in your day.
Either scale back your intake of juice to once every few days or water down the juice to take in less sugar.
- Tobacco
This may be one of the more obvious on the list as tobacco is already known to lead to many health-threatening diseases. No matter whether you’re smoking tobacco through cigarettes or using chewing tobacco, it can lead down the path of gum disease or losing your teeth entirely.
There is no alternative to this one besides quitting entirely, it’s horrible for your health and your teeth are no exception.
- Potato Chips
Who doesn’t appreciate having a few potato chips as a delicious side meal or appetizer before dinner is ready? However, the starch in the potato chips can cause serious damage to your teeth because of the acid within it that eats away at your enamel. Even worse if the chips were to get stuck in your teeth.
Be sure to floss your teeth after eating chips of any sort, but don’t brush them immediately after. Wait at least 30 minutes after eating to brush your teeth.
- Opening Things with Your Teeth
Many people have a horrible habit of opening containers or small packages with their teeth, not realizing the consequences that come with it. Other than increasing the chances of chipping your tooth entirely, you also risk cracking them without realizing you’ve done so.
That will lead to the tooth dying in your mouth over the next several weeks and becoming discolored before realizing what happened.
You can also cause enough stress on your teeth and shift them out of place, which will lead to crooked teeth over time. Luckily, there are accelerated Invisalign options to help correct this issue rather quickly!
- Playing Sports with No Mouthguard
This one comes second to intaking tobacco as the most obvious bad habit on this list. One big hit to the mouth by a ball, stick, or fist and boy oh boy are you asking for trouble. After that big hit, you’ll more than likely chip a tooth, loosen a tooth, crack a tooth, or all 3 at the same time.
Always wear a mouthguard, no matter what sport your playing. It will heighten your sense of security and make you play with less restraint than playing without one.
- Chewing on Things You Shouldn’t Chew On
Come on everyone, you know what this is in reference too…
Those bad habits of releasing stress via chewing on an object that was never meant to be chewed on such as your fingernails, a pen, or even ice. All of these things can cause severe damage to your teeth by misaligning them, cracking them, or chipping them over time.
- Coffee
Ah, coffee… God’s caffeine gift to this world. It gives you a jolt whenever you need it most to carry on with your day. However, the dark complexion and acidity in the coffee bean can lead to your teeth turning yellow over time. Trying to keep the intake to as few cups per day as possible.
There are also various methods of cleaning and whitening your teeth from the staining coffee causes. The hope isn’t lost after all!
- Brushing with Ferocity
A common misconception among people is that the harder you brush your teeth, the more germs and bacteria you’re brushing off in the process… not true at all. Using harder bristles or just brushing too harshly on your teeth can cause the gum and enamel to wipe away on your teeth. That will leave your teeth more susceptible to cavities and gum issues over time.
Hopefully, this list was an eye-opener for what can cause bad teeth over time, if you’re not careful. You only get one set of teeth in your lifetime, so be sure to handle them with care! Be sure to check back with Broke & Chic often for more helpful info and tricks for everyday life.
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