Nail Biting! Habit or Horrible Health Hazard?

It’s astonishing how the biggest amount of discomfort for a person can sometimes be caused by the littlest problem. For example, consider something as simple as breaking a nail on your hand. Thankfully, the nails do grow back and the pain will stop bothering you once the nail has returned. A bad habit is not as easily broken as breaking a nail and having it grow back. One of the worst habits (health wise) that a person can have is biting their nails. Nail biting, also known as onychophagy, is a habit that normally starts in the childhood years and can continue into adulthood.

Nail biting has many harmful effects such as bacteria and viruses transferred from the mouth to the finger inner skin and also from the finger to the mouth. Furthermore, nail biting can make the skin surrounding the nails uncomfortable and sore. If the nail biting is an ongoing problem that continues for an extended period of time, the tissue that helps the nails grow can suffer permanent mutilation and this can result in abnormal looking nails. Nail biting can lead to broken skin on the cuticle which exposes the cuticles to microbial and viral contaminants such as paronychia. In addition, oral problems such as gingival injury and malocclusion of the anterior teeth may arise as a result of nail biting and might need to be fixed by cosmetic dentistry. Also, if the nails are swallowed, stomach problems can occasionally develop.

How to Stop Nail Biting

Now that it’s been established that nail biting is potentially harmful to your health, how can a chronic nail biter break the habit? Below are some simple tips to break the nail biting habit:

• Trim your nails – This is the easiest and most obvious solution to the problem. When your nails are trimmed, you will have less total nail area to bite.
• Figure out why you bite your nails – Solving a problem without knowing its cause is quite difficult. Getting to the cause of the nail biting is a big step in preventing the action from happening in the future. Nail biting can either be caused by physical triggering or a mental state. Either way, identifying the cause is one of the important steps to solving this bad habit.
• Make your nails attractive – Having a nice manicure or colorful nail polish on a regular basis can make a person less likely to bite their nails. You will want to display your beautiful nails instead of biting them.
• Make biting your nails an unpleasant experience – One way to help prevent nail biting is to make the act of biting the nails an experience you don’t want to repeat. There are many ways of getting this done. For example, covering the nails with tape can be a sticky solution to the problem. Also, wearing gloves is a simple solution that covers the nails and prevents a person from reaching them to bite. Finally, nail polish provides a nasty taste that doesn’t invite a “second bite”.
• Occupy your hands – When the urge to bite your nails arises, keep your hands occupied in other ways. Reading a book, typing on a computer or playing with a ball will keep your hands busy and your mind off biting your nails. Also, prevent boredom that brings different nail biting thoughts into your mind by keeping yourself busy with activities that engage your mind or your hands.

Reasons to stop biting your nails

Here are four reasons why you should keep this habit out of your routine:

1. Lots of germs underneath the fingernails - Even if you wash your hands frequently, it is problematic to get all the microorganisms and dirt from under your nails. Biting your nails gives these microbes free access to your mouth thereby increasing your chances of getting an illness.
2. It increases the risk of infection - For example, an infection called paronychia with symptoms of painful, red, swollen areas around the nail can occur if tetanus finds its way into these areas, amputation is the solution.
3. Bad for your teeth - The teeth have just one specific use which is chewing your food. Habitually biting your nails can be the source of your teeth shifting out of place. Nail biting could also cause your teeth to break and could damage your enamel or the bacteria from the fingers and nails can linger in your mouth and cause bad breath. These issues might eventually need to be addressed by cosmetic dentistry.
4. You can have more hangnails or ingrown nails - Constantly biting your nails creates the chance of a piece of torn skin appearing at the root of your nail AKA a hangnail. The best method to avoid painful blisters is to prevent the hangnail from developing in the first place by not chewing on your fingers. Ingrown nails are nails that grow under the skin in your nails and they can potentially cause swelling or an infection which eventually requires surgery.

Consult with a Board-Certified Doctor about Nail Biting

While the suggestions above have been shown to work for some nail biters, there are other nail biting veterans who need a bit more help. If you bite your nails and are developing an infection or sore areas, please consult with an experienced dermatologist who is also board-certified. A skilled dermatologist might not be able to help you break the habit completely but they can bring you relief from the pain and soreness caused by nail biting.