Your Teeth As Tools

Teeth serve many functions.  They were designed to chew food, support our lips and cheeks structurally, and help us speak properly.  A healthy set of teeth also adds to your overall appearance and gives you an attractive smile.  However, many people damage their teeth by using them inappropriately.  Here’s a few things that you should avoid doing with your teeth in order to keep them as healthy as possible:

Don’t Use Your Teeth To Open Things

Beer bottle, candy bar, or bag of chips – resist the urge to use your teeth to help you open it.  Your teeth were not meant to open these things.  Using your teeth on foreign objects, especially bottle caps, can crack them, chip them, or cause malocclusion (poor jaw alignment) by wearing down your teeth unevenly.  Malocclusion can eventually lead to a type of jaw pain called temporomandibular disorder (TMD, commonly known as TMJ.)

Don’t Use Your Teeth As Scissors or Wire Cutters

Next time you buy a shirt or sweater at the store, if you’re taking off the price tag, and only the paper comes off, do NOT bite the plastic fastener.  Almost anytime you try to cut something with your teeth is a mistake.  You can do damage to the enamel, chip or crack teeth by using them to cut anything other than your meals.  This includes clear packing tape when the packing tape doesn’t come with a built-in cutter.  As a dentist , I’ve seen some crazy things.  Believe it or not, at our dental office in West Hartford, a patient even use his teeth to cut wire, without a good result. 

Don’t Use Your Teeth as a Third Hand

In my New Britain dental office, an elderly woman that had used her front teeth to hold pins while she was sewing.  Over time, she had worn small holes in her teeth where the pins were placed.  Every time she smiled, very small holes were visible on the bottom of her upper teeth.  I’ve also had a patient who is a construction workers hold nails in their teeth, with similar damage.  And just think of the choking hazard.

Don’t Use Your Teeth To Chew On Foreign Objects

When I was in elementary school, a lot of kids were chewing on their pencils.  Sometimes people bite their fingernails.  Consistently doing these things have similar results to grinding your teeth against each other.  

Don’t Use Your Teeth as a Nut Cracker or Seafood Opener

Teeth were not meant to crack nuts or lobster shells.  Over time, the shell will act like sandpaper on your teeth, sanding away bits of enamel each time you open one.  If you do this regularly you will eventually be able to visibly see where you’ve worn away your teeth.

If You Do Get Damage, I Can Help

At my dental office in West Hartford, or in my New Britain dental office, I can perform many restorative procedures in general dentistry and cosmetic dentistry.  This includes: 

• Tooth-shaping
• Bonding
• Veneers
• Dental Crowns and Bridges
• Implants
• Root Canal Therapy, and 
• Emergency Dentistry.

If you use your teeth as tools, you may find use for these services.  

However, if you want your teeth to function properly, you have to protect and take care of them.  As long as you use your teeth for their intended purpose, and don’t abuse them, you will be able to keep your teeth working well for a long time.

 

Dr. Elzbieta W. Basil DMD

West Hartford Dentist

New Britain Dentist

www.DoctorBasil.com