It’s always funny to me when I hear someone spouting some sort of “factual” knowledge that sounds extremely unsound, illogical, or just complete bull. I never really go out of my way to push my glasses up my nose and tell them a piece of my mind, but it does irk me to hear people speak so definitively about topics on which they’re very limited in knowledge. Dental facts is one of those things. Sometimes you hear people say that brushing once a day is completely fine. Or that the dentist isn’t “worth your money.” Some of these things are easy to recognize as crap. Others, though, may actually put you in a position where you’re not too sure yourself and could find yourself believing in someone’s claim. Well, we did some lifting for you so that you could tell myth from fact. Tooth whitening products erode your enamel. It’s best to talk to your dentist about the best tooth whitening products for you before you go forward. But anything that’s dentist approved doesn’t hurt your enamel whatsoever. While it may be somewhat painful or cause a little bit of bleeding, the whitening product should never hurt your enamel. Crowding is why you need your wisdom teeth removed. This one can be factual for some people, depending on their teeth. But crowding is often caused by other things, so braces often fix the problem of crowding far easier than removing wisdom teeth would. The real reason that wisdom teeth are often removed is because they’ve grown in impacted or because they’re hard to brush and have already begun rotting. Sugar causes your teeth to decay. This myth is probably at the top of all dental misinformation. Sugar causes your teeth to decay if you don’t brush them and leave the sugar on your teeth. So rather than how much sugar you eat or have in your mouth any given day, it’s up to how often you brush your teeth and take care of them. Gum disease only affects a few people.
It’s actually opposite. The majority of adults in America are affected by some sort of gum disease. But, most of those people wouldn’t know unless they went to their dentist as frequently as they should (twice a year). By going, you can eliminate your gum disease and make sure it doesn’t get worse down the road. If they bleed easily, your gums are pretty much guaranteed to be affected by gum disease.
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Chewing on things while we’re babies or even children is one of those things that is socially acceptable, for the most part. Barring any extreme cases where the child is also sucking on those things too often or too hard, it’s fine to let babies and young children put things in their mouths from time to time. The thing is, chewing on stuff is something that extends into adulthood for some people. One of the number one reasons for this excessive chewing is stress. Whether it’s chewing on the end of a pencil or pen during a particularly tough test or biting your nails when distraught or worried about something that’s about to happen, chewing can be a negative thing. The thing is, it’s not just bad for your fingers when chewing on them or even whatever materials you’re wasting by gnawing too much at those. Excessive chewing can lead to other problems. First off, if the material isn’t necessarily soft or for biting, your teeth may be affected over time. And if the thing you’re chewing on isn’t healthy as it is (like plastic or other treated materials), you may get sick from exposing your mouth to certain surfaces. But a particularly serious condition that can develop from chewing on things during the day is bruxism, or teeth grinding. At some point, you’ve probably heard about someone grinding their teeth in their sleep, even though they don’t know they’re doing it. Teeth grinding can cause all sorts of problem with the mouth, especially because you’re literally whittling your teeth down everytime you do it.
Chewing during the day trains your jaw to become accustomed to the motion of grinding your teeth, and if it’s associated with stress (which it most likely is), you’re bound to do it in your sleep at night. That’s especially true if you’re not completely at peace with everything and have other things on your mind. Your body will naturally grind your teeth for you because that’s what you’ve grown to do during the day. Now, bruxism can be helped. Whether you get a mouth guard or device to wear at night or you figure out and fix the root of your stress, there are ways to help with teeth grinding. But I’m here to tell you that the number one way to get rid of the condition is to stop your bad habits during your waking hours. The more you let yourself chew on your nails or pen during the day, the more you’re going to grind your teeth at night. |
Blaine Behrens
Oral hygienist, Blogger ArchivesCategories |