9 Ways You Didn’t Know You're Damaging Your Teeth

The surprising things you thought were good for your teeth – and why they’re actually wrecking them

Ninety-four percent of people say the first thing that notice about people is their smile. Beautiful teeth convey so much – happiness, confidence, warmth and attractiveness. And the key to a pretty smile, of course, is a gorgeous set of pearly whites.

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But all too often, the very things we do to take care of our smile – brushing, flossing and even rinsing with mouthwash – can hurt rather than help our teeth. We chatted with New York-based cosmetic dentist Gregg Lituchy, DDS, of Lowenberg, Lituchy & Kantor (who’s worked on the megawatt smiles of Naomi Campbell, Gisele Bundchen and Heidi Klum) to find out common mistakes even those with oh-so-thorough oral hygiene routines commonly commit.

While we can’t promise you a supermodel smile, we can share nine ways you’re unwittingly causing everything from tooth enamel erosion to plaque build-up and more.

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You’re proud of the fact that your teeth are razor-sharp enough to tear through that bag of chips that you’re dying to eat. But they may not stay that way if you continue to use them as an all-purpose opener.

The tip of a tooth, explains Lituchy, is the thinnest – and the quickest to wear. “The packaging on something like a bag of crackers can be hard to open. Pulling hard against it with the tips of teeth can cause them to chip,” says Lituchy, who also advises against chewing on nails, pens or pencils for the same reason.

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You can rest easy knowing you brush your teeth twice a day, right? Wrong. It turns out that many of us commit tooth-brushing blunders that can compromise the quality of our teeth.

The worst mistake? “Brushing too hard in a back-and-forth horizontal motion,” says Lituchy. “People think that if they’re using hard bristles, they’ll wipe away more plaque, but you can actually brush away your enamel and wear down the area where the gums meet the tooth structure, causing gum recession.” So not a pretty look.

For those who scrub with gusto, that’s hard news to swallow. In addition to easing up on the elbow grease, Lituchy suggests switching to a soft bristle brush. And instead of a using a harsh, side-to-side motion, he recommends brushing at a 45-degree angle away from the gum tissue, positioning the bristles under the gums and brushing bristles toward the biting surface of the tooth.

You’re a popular gal, so you often find yourself socializing over a glass of wine or coffee. And while your catch-up sessions are a boost to your confidence, they’re a bane to your teeth, which can pick up gnarly surface stains from all those richly colored drinks. “Wine is a very heavy stainer of tooth structure,” says Lituchy. “If you’re going out to dinner and having wine and maybe an espresso afterward, it’s not a bad idea to put a coating of Vaseline on your teeth.” Vaseline, according to Lituchy, will create a protective barrier, allowing you to drink to your heart’s desire. So, go ahead, keep filling up your social calendar – and your glass.

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Crappy news for those of us who’ve been so smug about our top-notch flossing habits: We might be destroying our gums in the process. If you snap or pop the string in between your teeth, you’re liable to damage the “triangle of gum” that comes to a point in between teeth, explains Lituchy. And once our gums begin to recede, they expose the oh-so-sensitive root of the tooth.

Instead, gently ease dental floss between teeth and make sure you curve the floss around the tooth in a C-shaped arc. And don’t let the thought of possibly harming your gums deter you from flossing, either. You’ll cause way more damage to your gums letting the bacteria that lives between teeth and under gums thrive unchecked.

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Ever wake up with headaches or a pain in front of your ear? That could be a sign that you’re a tooth grinder or clencher. Waking up with your teeth in a clenched position is another telltale sign.

“The muscles that we chew with connect with muscles that go to the temple or forehead, which is why sometimes grinders wake up with headaches,” says Lituchy. Likewise, too much pressure from constant grinding can strain face muscles, especially those by the temporomandibular joint, which is located in front of the ear.

All that gnashing of the teeth while you slumber can lead to significant enamel erosion, but getting a mouth guard from a dentist can protect pearly whites from your nocturnal activities. That way, you can leave the grinding to, ahem, other bedroom activities.

Prepare to do a spit-take with your mouthwash. Most of us think of mouth rinse as a potent germ-killer, but some variations can actually create bacteria-friendly environments.

“If you happen to use an alcohol-based mouth rinse, the alcohol in it can dry out the mouth – and bacteria thrive in dry environments,” says Lituchy. (It’s the reason morning breath is a thing; our salivary production slows down at night, which contributes to dry mouth and the multiplication of bacteria.)

Still, Lituchy always recommends using an anti-bacterial rinse and says alcohol-based ones are some of the most effective. To counter the drying effects, he advises rinsing with water immediatelyafter. (If you’ve ever chugged a bottle of water after a night of cocktail-drinking, then this hydrating solution should make total sense to you.)

And in case you’re wondering, yes, alcoholic drinks have the same drying effect as mouthwash but that doesn’t mean you have to put your wine glass down just yet. Lituchy says you can counteract the dryness by swishing water around your mouth. (Likewise, if you’re swigging sugar-heavy energy drinks following a workout – when your mouth is dry from panting – make sure to follow up by rinsing with water.) And even with wine’s drying nature and high acidity, Lituchy says the health benefits of drinking it are more well documented than its adverse effect on teeth.

If you find yourself out unable to brush or floss, try reaching for sugar-free gum.

“Chewing sugarless gum is good because the mechanical action of chewing gum can remove plaque from the surfaces of the teeth,” says Lituchy. But make sure not to overdo it: Too much chewing, Lituchy warns, can aggravate the muscles by your temporomandibular joint.

But how much is too much? “The recommended time varies from person to person,” says Lituchy. “If you are noticing any soreness at all in the muscles or joint area, then you are chewing too much. Everyone’s threshold is different.”

Also make sure that you’re not making the mistake of popping a piece of sugar-packed gum, since bacteria will convert that sugar into tooth-eroding acids. Go ahead and chew that over (sorry, we had to).

Your fruit smoothies are chock-full of vitamins – as well as sugar and acid. When you combine multiple fruits into a single drink, you get way more sugar than you would if you were to eat fruit individually.

“Juices can have more sugar than soda,” says Lituchy. “Bacteria convert the sugar to acid, which can wear down the enamel and cause cavities.” That’s not-so-sweet news for folks who coat their teeth with sugar-heavy smoothies on a daily basis.

To lessen the damage, Lituchy suggests drinking smoothies through straws, which help funnel sugars away from the surface of the teeth, and consuming them quickly so that you’re not continually bathing teeth in sugar. He also advises diluting juices by adding water.

And because the acid in fruit can cause a temporary softening of the enamel, Lituchy says you should wait 45 minutes after consuming your smoothie to brush your teeth. Otherwise, you risk damaging the enamel while it’s in a vulnerable state.

This rule holds true when you consume other things that are high in acidity (think lemons and limes) or that are high in sugar, like soda.

You wouldn’t chew on a rock, right? So, why chew on something that’s almost as hard as one? Breaking down a cube of ice requires a lot of pressure, which can wear down enamel and even cause it to chip. Not so cool, right?

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