5 Ways Nail Biting is Damaging your Teeth

Nail biting, medically referred to as Onychophagia, is a relatively common oral-compulsive habit that affects people of all ages. There are many reasons why people bite their nails, like in times of stress, frustration, or excitement, or in times of inactivity or boredom during childhood.

Nail biting is arguably the most common of the typical “nervous habits” including nose-picking, thumb-sucking, and hair twisting. The habit usually begins in childhood. Studies suggest that an estimated 60 percent of children and 45 percent of teenagers bite their nails, and drop the habit as they get into adulthood. However, about 25 percent of young adults and 5 percent of older adults continue to bite their fingernails.

Conscious or not, the habit can cause major damage to your teeth, because you’re biting on something hard. Here are some other consequences of biting your teeth:

1. Chipped teeth

This is arguably the biggest reason why you should stop biting your nails. Consistently chewing on your hard fingernails can flex your teeth’s enamel, causing it to chip or fracture. Additionally, when you bite through a fingernail, the teeth hit together quite hard, which could also chip the tooth. Besides enamel wear, nail biting can also lead to uneven biting surfaces.

2. Misaligned teeth

Biting your fingernails usually exerts a lot of pressure on the front teeth, which they are not designed to withstand. Although teeth are naturally hard and durable, the shearing stress created by nail biting can cause the incisors to become misaligned or cause a diastema – gap between the teeth - damaging the most important part of your smile. This will cost you a lot in future to fix your smile.

3. Increased risk for Temporomandibular ™ disorder

Nail biting can contribute to TMJ, which results in headaches, jaw pain, and locking and popping of the jaw. Other studies also claim that biting fingernails puts you at greater risk for bruxism – unconscious grinding and clenching of teeth – which is associated with a bunch of negative effects.

4. Damage to dental appliances

Appliances like braces exert a lot of pressure on teeth, and adding to this pressure by biting your fingernails can stress your teeth out, weaken them, and damage your orthodontic treatment and overall bite.

5. Sanitary concerns

Hands are one of the most germ-laden areas of the human body, even for compulsive hand washers, and nails are doubly so. Biting your fingernails creates an avenue for you to transfer disease causing germs, including the potentially pathogenic Salmonella and E. coli bacteria, from your hands into your mouth, leading to infections.

Final note

Damage can also occur to your fingers in the form of a skin infection, like paronychia, whereby bacteria and other microorganisms penetrate the skin through tiny tears around your nails, leading to redness, swelling, and pus around the nails, which can lead to social stigma.

Fortunately, nail biting can be fixed through a number of expert approved strategies, like keeping your nails short, coating your nails with a sour-tasting polish, and picking up stress management habits like meditation, exercise, and yoga to calm you instead of biting your nails.