The thrive diet

Your new shirt’s price tag begs to be set free, but you can’t find your scissors. So you do what most people do: You bite it off.

Bad move. Habits like this one – and a slew of  lesser-known ones-can  saddle your teeth with  jagged edges, chipped  fillings and expensive repairs. By breaking these bad habits now, you  can prevent permanent  damage later. According to dental experts Howard S. Glazer, D.D.S. (presi­dent-elect of the Acad­emy of General Den­tistry), and H. Douglas Hall, D.D.S. (assistant professor of periodontics at the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry, Oklahoma City), here are two more of the worst tooth-hacking habits and the best ways to stop them. And if we don’t mention yours now, we probably will in this column over the next few months:

Sucking on lemons The citric acid in lemons can leach important minerals from your teeth and erode your teeth’s outer surfaces, making them prone to chipping and cracking. Over time, your teeth’s outer cover­ing (enamel) may appear chalky or worn, espe­cially near the gum line.

To help save your choppers, forgo this bad habit. If you drink citrus juice, limit-to a few seconds-the time you hold the juice in your mouth. And make sure to rinse afterward. In fact, it’s a good idea to rinse after you’ve swished any kind of fruit juice, because most juices contain citric acid and decay-promoting sugar. Brushing helps, but first wait a few min­utes for your saliva to buffer the acid.

Overzealous brushing A potential cause of gum recession is scrubbing your teeth; that is, brushing from side to side or up and down as if your toothbrush were a jackhammer on full power. When you brush too vigorously, even supposedly soft bristles can drive gums from your teeth and eventual­ly expose roots.

Brush instead with circular strokes. Start be­low the gum line, keep­ing your toothbrush head at a slant (about a 45-degree angle)-not parallel-to your gum line. Roll your wrist lightly as you circle

around. For more precision and less pressure, hold your toothbrush with the same grip you’d use to hold a screw­driver, but gently. It’s important to let the bris­tles get underneath your gums, so be sure you brush softly up and over your gums. If you can’t get used to this brushing style, use very gentle up-and-down strokes. Avoid horizontal brush­ing altogether. A last re­minder: Brush your tongue, because bacteria love to hide in its hills and valleys.