Keeping your teeth healthy requires diligent dental treatment, and preventive care. There are a number of, very common, habits that can put your smile at risk for disease and damage.
Our Orland Park dentists are here to help you recognize these dangers in your own daily life, and to minimize them. This will help you to preserve your smile in the long run.
Here are some things that patients often do, which happen to put their teeth at risk…
1. Chewing on hard or abrasive substances
If you regularly chew on inflexible things—like ice and hard candies—your dental enamel may develop small cracks over time. Then, these mini cracks can intensify and undermine the overall structure of your smile, resulting in large fractures and cracks.
2. Picking at your teeth
Using wooden or metal toothpicks in order to clean debris from your smile, you could damage your smile. These types of instruments can scratch your dental enamel—leaving it prone to damage and infection—as well as damage your gum tissue. Rather than digging at your teeth with toothpicks, use floss and mouth rinses in order to clear away dental debris.
3. Grinding your teeth
If you grind and clench your teeth, you may experience a wide variety of dental problems as a result. This habit can cause enamel thinning, dental damage, and the shortening of teeth. In order to protect your smile, you should do what you can to minimize your propensity to grind your teeth, and wear a protective mouthpiece—if recommended by your dentist—in order to protect your enamel surfaces.
If you want additional information about dental care, please call our Tinley Park dentist office to speak to our helpful staff. We have the information, and the expertise, that you need in order to achieve and keep oral health.