You probably know what a dirty habit biting your nails is. With that said, you might not realize exactly how dirty. Excessive nail biting can ruin your teeth, make you sick, and cause several other problems that could lead to permanent damage. Do you want to stop biting your nails? Read this. Here are all the disgusting things that can happen when you bite your nails:
You Can Get A Horrible Infection
Biting your nails puts you at a higher chance of getting a bacterial infection called, Paronychia. This infection forms underneath your nails and causes inflammation, redness, and your nails to fill up with pus. GROSS! If this infection gets out of hand, it could cause even more serious symptoms like joint pain and possible disability.
It Can Hurt Your Teeth
Bitting your nails doesn’t just hurt your nails, it hurts your teeth too. The more you bite the more likely your teeth are to chip, break, or even split. And when that happens, your teeth can become more vulnerable to staining or decaying. If you want pearly whites, keep your hands out of your mouth!
You Can Experience Gum Pain
Your gums are sensitive and nail fragments can easily get lodged in your gum tissue and cause pain as well as swelling. That swelling can lead to painful inflammation and even a possible infection. Not to mention, bad breath. Nail biters are more likely to have bad breath than people who don’t bite their nails because they’re more susceptible to halitosis (aka bad breath).
It Can Make You Sick
Biting your nails can actually make you sick! Transferring germs and bacteria from your hands/inside your nails into your body can make you more prone to stomach bugs, colds, and other infections. There are so many ways you can get sick already, why make yourself more likely because you keep putting your hands in your mouth?
You Waste Your Hard Earned Money
Wasting money is pretty disgusting, isn’t it? Spending money on a manicure only to bite it off is such a waste of your time and money. But it happens when you’re a habitual biter. The only thing you can do to save your money and have gorgeous nails is to break that habit.
You Can Experience Ingrown Nails
Ingrown nails don’t just happen on your toes — they can happen on your nails too. Gross! If you’ve ever experienced an ingrown nail you know just how annoying they can be. Imagine swelling and experiencing sensitivity on your nails. No, thank you. Especially since you have to use your nails pretty much every day.
You Can Cause Your Teeth To Move
Your teeth might seem strong, but that doesn’t mean they’re strong enough to be biting your nails all day and night. In fact, quite the opposite. When you constantly bite your nails, you put stress on your teeth which could cause them to move and shift. You don’t want that; especially after spending money on braces?
Your Nail Polish Can Mess With Your Hormones
Turns out, nail polishes contain Triphenyl phosphate (TPHP). A toxic compound that can interfere with your hormones and how they function. Consuming this isn’t a good thing at all. And before you decide to opt for organic nail polishes, you should know some of them still contain TPHP.
You Can Transmit Cold Sores
Do you experience cold sores? Even if those cold sores are harmless, they’re probably not the most comfortable thing in the world right? Then why would you even chance the possibility of transferring them to other parts of your body?! Biting your nails, in a mouth filled with cold sores, can force those sores to move to your hands. Yikes!
You Can Ruin The Growth Of Your Nails
The more you bite, the more separation you’ll cause to your nail bed. And although you might think your nails will grow long when you eventually stop biting them, that might not be true! Separating your nail bed can cause irreversible damage and even if you do kick your habit, there’s a chance your nails will never be able to grow as long or be as healthy as you’d like!
Are these reasons gross enough to stop you from biting? Hopefully, they are! Now, use these 3 tips to stop biting for good:
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Paint your nails with a gross-tasting polish coat
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Maintain healthy nails
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Reward yourself when you go an hour or a day or a week without biting
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Keep your nails short
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Be patient
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Figure out what triggers you to bite your nails and work to find a better solution
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COMIT to actually stopping
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Ask for help if you can’t seem to quit the habit alone
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