Bad lifestyle habits that ruin your teeth

Bad lifestyle habits that ruin your teeth

Research tells us that at least 75 per cent of adults in the UK do not have the desirable full set of natural teeth. A further 6 per cent do not have any natural teeth at all. 

We demand a lot from our teeth: we need teeth to grind food down into minuscule pieces to aid digestion, teeth facilitate clear speech, and a dental arch that is white and well-aligned gives us the confidence to display a dazzlingly beautiful smile.

How important is it to smile an aesthetically pleasing smile? In addition to all that teeth do for us, they also need to be strong, bright and healthy to boost our confidence to take on the world. A warm smile goes a long way to help us form positive impressions on others – positive impressions that help us win friends, find love and even raise the chances of being hired or promoted.

When teeth are in an unhealthy condition, we experience pain and discomfort rendering us unable to carry out routine tasks. It is thus safe to say that poor dental health is inextricably linked to poor quality of life.

If one is to avoid dental problems, it helps to know what the root causes of poor dental health are and take the necessary steps to dodge them. There are several factors at play here, from bad lifestyle habits to not following the advice of your dentist Luton.

Lifestyle habits that contribute to dental problems

Ask a dental practitioner about which lifestyle habit they wish patients would never have, and most would say skipping out on daily brushing and flossing. Brushing teeth twice a day and flossing once a day is the first golden rule of good oral hygiene. Despite what all the research and dentists say, there are still those who neglect to see the importance of cleaning their teeth appropriately every day.

The second most common bad lifestyle habit is avoiding the dental chair, be it for that all-important routine checkup or seeking proper professional dental care when experiencing an oral health concern. Apart from pain and sensitivity, there is very little for a patient to go by to detect a dental problem. With all the specialised tools and their dental knowledge, a dental professional can accurately diagnose a potential problem and put in place measures to treat it.

A major bad lifestyle habit that easily ruins teeth is poor eating habits. Yes, there are foods and beverages that when consumed in excess, change the natural balance of the oral microbiome. High levels of acids and sugars in what we eat and drink can overwhelm the mouth with bad bacteria responsible for the accumulation of plaque and tartar forming on tooth enamel.

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Smoking is another no-no that dental practitioners would have us avoid at all costs. The habit has been found to have severe consequences for gum health, and tobacco consumption is also linked to tooth staining and discolouration.