Nail biting and teeth

You've probably heard you mom say it a hundred (or more) times: biting you nails is bad for your teeth! Still, slightly less than half of all adults report some regular nail biting. Beyond the disease potential from putting your hands in your mouth, nail biting poses specific risks to the teeth. Read on to learn why this common habit is detrimental to your oral health and how to prevent it!

Nail biting requires you to use your teeth in ways that they were never designed. Using the front teeth to mash through the thick keratin on the nails wears away at the thin enamel on the ends of the incisors. These teeth were designed for tearing and cutting, not puncturing hard objects. Chipped enamel, irregular wear patterns and even tooth movement can all occur with prolonged nail biting. Some studies also report an increased frequency of TMJ pain in nail biters. The constant pressure on the jaw joints and muscles can be enough to cause soreness or even trigger headaches. 

At the core, nail biting is usually tied to stress or emotional strain. Mindfulness, stress reduction techniques and meditation can help cut out nail biting at the source. Keeping nails short and trimmed can also limit access for the teeth and thus prevent chewing as well. Some patients also use nail polish as a bad taste-deterrent, with certain brands of polish containing flavor additives specifically to stop nail biting. Finally, strong tasting/smelling ointments such as tea tree oil have been used for years to remind us to keep our fingers out of our mouths. 

All in all, you should never use your teeth for anything other than eating and chewing. Nail biting, opening packages or holding objects with your teeth can all result in cosmetic or structural damage. If you would like to know more about how to manage nail biting, repairing chipped enamel or educating children on protecting their teeth, please give our office a call!

Dental Questions: Does every tooth need a crown after a root canal?

As a rule of thumb, if you have a root canal performed on a tooth, you should expect to have a crown placed afterwards. Crowns help restore the structure and rigidity to a tooth after it has been "hollowed out" by the root canal process. In a few instances, a dentist may not recommend placing a crown on a tooth as part of definitive treatment. However, these cases are certainly the exception, and not the rule. 

To perform a root canal, an opening has to be created to access the nerve space within the tooth. This involves removing important structural components of the dental enamel, and thus rendering the tooth much more likely to fracture. A crown remedies this problem by creating a solid cap around the tooth that braces it against biting and chewing forces. Root canal treated teeth also frequently require buildups to replace lost tooth structure and posts to resist against lateral and shearing forces. The cost and time investment of these treatments need to be considered when you choose to have a root canal performed. Without them, the tooth has an much higher chance of breaking during normal use. 

In some cases, a dentist will not recommend placing a crown on a root canal treated tooth. Depending on how the patient bites and how much natural tooth structure remains, anterior (front) teeth do not always need crowns. Because they are not primary chewing teeth, the front teeth tend to deal with much less force than the canines, premolars or molars. Additionally, teeth opposing (biting into) dentures or teeth that have nothing to chew against may not need crowns after root canal treatment. In these instances, there is not enough force generated to put the weakened tooth at risk. 

In general, expect to need a crown placed as part of completing your root canal treatment. At Thousand Oaks Family Dentistry, we do our best to inform patients of their complete treatment needs- from start to finish. If you would like to learn more about root canals, crowns, fillings or cavities, please give our office a call!