Would you be surprised to find out that numerous daily activities are secretly damaging your teeth? It is quite possible that some of your habits may be causing you more dental grief than you even realised.
Comfort Centre Dental Buderim is here to help you identify those bad habits and root them out!
Check out the top culprits and nip these bad habits in the bud before you end up causing unnecessary damage to your teeth or oral health.
Exercise – Good For You Until it Isn’t
1) Intense workouts. During an intense workout, saliva production decreases. This is significant because saliva production is a protective mechanism, bathing the teeth with antibodies and keeping our pH levels neutral
When you exercise, your mouth becomes dry and saliva can’t prevent the pH from dropping. Add to this the consumption of sugary, acidic sports drinks during your workout and you push your pH far down into the acidic level. . Remember, low pH is acid and this demineralizes teeth and creates an environment for the bad bacteria that cause gum inflammation to thrive.
On top of this, athletes tend to clench their teeth when exercising, further damaging the surface of teeth.
If you exercise heavily, you need to pay special attention to your dental care.
2) Contact sports. Contact sports can help you get extremely fit, but they also come with the threat of tooth damage. Think of Australian boxer, and WBO Welterweight Champion, Jeff Horn who recently won his championship, with a smile (and at Comfort Dental Centre we send Jeff our congratulations!).
His smile was protected by a custom-made mouth-guard. Athletes who engage in contact sports should visit their Comfort Dental Centre dentist to get their own custom-made mouth-guard before competing!
Dental Hygiene – Good for You Until it Isn’t
3) Brushing too vigorously or using a hard-bristled brush. While brushing regularly is the best way to keep teeth healthy, brushing too hard can backfire. The same goes for if you’re using a hard-bristled toothbrush. These can wear away your enamel just like acidic foods do. You should have a soft grip when brushing and always incline your brush at a 45-degree angle toward the gum line. Don’t brush like you’re trying to grind your tooth enamel away. Instead, use soft strokes and take more time.
4) Brushing directly after eating. Most people want to ensure they have fresh breath in public, but brushing your teeth directly after a meal can harm rather than help your teeth.
Particularly, if you’ve had acidic food, it softens the enamel on your teeth and if you brush too soon you could abrade the enamel.
Daily Habits
5) Using your teeth as tools. The next time you’re tempted to rip a piece of tape with your teeth or use your teeth to crack something, think about the possible consequences of your actions. Using your teeth for any other reason than their intended purpose can cause chipping, cracking, and breakage to occur.
Forbidden behaviours include:
6) Opening bottles. Using your teeth to pop the metal top of a glass bottle might seem like an impressive party trick, but it could result in a cracked or chipped tooth. Additionally, the sharp metal edges of a bottle cap can cut your gums and mouth.
7) Using your teeth as scissors. Most sealed packages (boxes, bags of chips, envelopes) and sales tags require a sharp object to open. But resist the urge to use your teeth. Using your teeth as scissors can lead to cracked and chipped teeth, and can even cause your jaw to dislocate. Instead, go to your toolbox for a pair of scissors or a box cutter.
8) Don’t crack nuts. Nutshells cause teeth to crack and can cause serious damage to your enamel. Over time, nutshells act like sandpaper on your teeth, sanding away bits of enamel each time you open a nut. If this action is repeated regularly, you will begin to see parts of your tooth get worn away.
9) Use tools, not teeth. Always avoid using your teeth as tools for anything other than chewing food. However, if you find yourself with a cracked tooth or other dental injuries, Comfort Dental Centre offers restorative services to get your teeth back in top shape!
Your Trusted Buderim Dentist
At Comfort Centre Dental Buderim, our goal is to provide the highest quality of cosmetic, restorative, and preventive dental care, in a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere, with a commitment to excellent customer service. From toothpaste to cosmetic dentistry our team is unlike any other health care office you have visited!
We are conveniently located on Wises Road near the Sunshine Motorway with convenient parking and we are open six days a week!
Call us on (07) 5370 8865 or book online today!