Dental Health Check with Dr. Linda Niessen
Dental health topics from Dr. Linda Niessen of Baylor College of Dentistry
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 Teeth as Tools

By Web Communications
Baylor College of Dentistry
The Texas A&M Health Science Center
Monday, August 30, 2004

STORY:  TEETH AS TOOLS

Most cases of chipped or broken teeth happen during routine household chores. Many people use their teeth to cut, rip, uncork, or loosen various objects. Dr. Linda Niessen says this bad habit can be harmful to your teeth. Her words of warning come in today’s segment of Dental Health Check.

“I suddenly broke one which was very scary.” Brandy Davenport cracked a molar trying to open a jar of nail polish.

“I was trying to open the jar and it was too tight so I used my teeth as a tool to open it.” For Tripp Snuggs, a sealed cellophane bag of chips led to his mishap. He tried to rip it open with his front teeth. “Grabbed the bag of chips, opened it with my mouth and pow, the tooth came loose.”

Using your teeth as a tool can be costly if you have porcelain veneers. Tripp’s broken veneer had to be replaced by an expensive crown.

“People who have crowns and veneers should be very, very sensitive to the fact that they can’t use teeth as a tool.” Dentist Dr. Vicki Borowski says many people use their teeth as a tool just because they are convenient. “Because it’s so easy. They’re right there. They don’t want to have to go for a pair of scissors or a knife. So they just stick it in their mouth and it’s broken.”

You can break a tooth ripping tags off new clothing or dry cleaning; opening jars or medicine bottles; uncorking wine bottles; cutting thread or a fishing line.

“CD cases, we’ve had people try to open shrink wrap, anything that’s got shrink wrap on it,” added Dr. Borowski.

“They’re not tools,” said Tripp.

And Brandy added, “They can break pretty easily.”

One final tip…don’t chew ice, especially hard ice cubes. You can break a tooth that way too. For Baylor College of Dentistry, Texas A&M System, I’m Dr. Linda Niessen, Channel 8 News.

Dr. Linda Niessen, clinical professor in the Department of Restorative Sciences and  the Office of Communications and Development at Baylor College of Dentistry, hosts Dental Health Check, the only weekly dental feature shot on location in the nation.

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