Five habits that will cause you dental issues

Our teeth can last us a lifetime, but only if we look after them properly.
There are many factors that contribute to dental issues, and they can vary from your personal hygiene habits to your diet, to the number of times your brush your teeth, or floss in a day.
Globally, there are a number of habits that people all have in common that lead to dental issues, some severe and others not so severe.

1) Chewing on Ice
Thinking it's natural and sugar free, many people think ice is harmless. But what many people don't seem to know is that by munching on hard, frozen ice cubes, you can chip or even crack your teeth. If you're a regular eater of ice, your mindless chomping will lead to the irritation of the soft tissue inside of a tooth, leading to regular tooth aches. These will arise with the intake of hot or cold foods.
The next time you feel the urge to chew on some ice, go for sugarless gum instead, or better still, substitute something that's healthier to chew, such as baby carrots.
If you chew ice from your drinks, swap that with crushed ice, or use a straw resting far into your mouth, away from your teeth.

2) Grinding your teeth
Grinding is when you actively slide your teeth back and forth over each other. This can wear your teeth down over time, often caused by stress and sleeping habits, thus making it harder to control. Often, teeth crack or split to the root on account of grinding.
Avoiding hard foods during the day cab reduce pain and damage from this habit. Wearing a mouth guard at night can prevent the damage caused by grinding while sleeping.
Physiotherapy or massage therapy can also offer teeth grinders relief though stretching and massages which help the jaw and facial muscles to relax.

3) Consuming cough drops, sports drinks and soda
Just because cough drops are sold as medicines doesn't mean they're healthy. Most are loaded with sugar and other added preservatives. So make sure that you brush your teeth well after soothing your throat with a lozenge. The sugar from candy reacts with the sticky plaque that coats your teeth. Bacteria in this plaque convert the sugar into an acid that slowly eats away tooth enamel, which leads to cavities.
Candy isn't the only culprit when it comes to added sugar. Soda's and sports drinks can have up to 11 teaspoons of sugar per serving, some even contain phosphoric and citric acids, which eat away at tooth enamel. Diet drinks let you skip out on sugar, but have even more acid in them in the form of the artificial sweeteners.
Stick to water for hydration, its sweetener free and calorie free.

4) Using your teeth as a tool
It's been reported that patients often use their teeth for a number of odd jobs, tearing open packets, uncapping bottles, ripping off price tags and other things. This is hard on your teeth, traumatizing them or causing the edge of a weakened tooth to chip off or even break.
Before you use your teeth as tools, think about the damage you cause them.
Bottom line: Use your teeth for eating, scissors for cutting and pliers for pulling.

5) Smoking
This is a hard to quit habit and can increase your chances of developing life threatening illnesses.
Cigarettes and tobacco stain teeth and cause them to fall out due to gum disease.
If you're looking for a reason to quit, just think of your smile!

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