If you have suffered from the bad habit of biting your nails for a long time, it might show in the health, looks, and quality of your teeth. Nail biting is not an easy habit to give up, but it is something you should try to stop doing for the sake of your teeth. Here are several effects nail biting can have on your teeth.

Shortened Teeth

Biting your nails once in a while will not typically harm teeth, but constant biting over a long period of time can begin to cause teeth to shorten. This occurs because the constant biting actually wears away your teeth. This will typically affect just the front teeth, but it could also affect other teeth if you do not limit your biting to using just your front teeth.

You can get this problem fixed by getting composite bonding done to your teeth or through dental veneers. Both of these services are used to adjust the size and shape of teeth, and they can be used in your situation to extend the length of your teeth.

Shifting Teeth

Another common result of nail biting is shifts in teeth. The pressure required to bite your nails is enough to cause your teeth to move, and you have a greater chance of this happening if you bite your nails daily. This can cause teeth to move out of place, which can lead to overcrowding in certain areas. When overcrowding occurs with teeth, it makes it harder to clean them, and this could cause you to develop more cavities in your mouth. 

Other Oral Problems

Biting your nails may not only affect the size and shape of your teeth, but it may also cause you to develop other oral problems, such as infections. The primary reason for this is from exposing your mouth to germs and bacteria all the time when sticking your fingers in your mouth to bite your nails. Your fingers contain a lot of bacteria, and you are spreading this to your mouth each time you bite your nails. This could cause infections, but it could also lead to problems with your gums.

You should also realize that this habit can lead to temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder, which is a very painful condition of the joints in your jaw.

If you recently broke this habit or are trying to, you may want to visit your dentist to find out if you have any oral problems. If so, a cosmetic dentist might be able to help you fix any teeth that have been damaged by this habit. Contact a clinic like The Family Dentist for more info.