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"The other day I couldn&amp;#x27;t get the plastic lid of the honey jar open, so I enlisted my teeth to pry the edge off so I could get some leverage. Dumb move. Here&amp;#x27;s why, says a dental expert ... It&amp;#x27;s so tempting to use our teeth as &amp;quot;tools.&amp;quot; Who hasn&amp;#x27;t enlisted their chompers to pry open a piece of plastic on a wrapper or bite off a stubborn tag on a new shirt? It&amp;#x27;s really common, says Tom, an oral health blogger and dental student who blogs over at Oral Answers (dental health has never been so interesting!). Tom lists several reasons why using your teeth as tools is a bad idea: &amp;quot;Using your teeth on foreign objects, especially bottle caps, can crack them, chip them, or cause malocclusion (poor jaw alignment) by wearing down your teeth unevenly. Malocclusion can eventually lead to a type of jaw pain called temporomandibular disorder (TMD, commonly known as TMJ.) My oral pathology teacher once showed us a picture of an elderly woman that had used her front teeth to hold pins while she was knitting and sewing. Over time, she had worn small holes in her teeth where the pins were placed. Every time she smiled, very small holes were visible on the bottom of her upper teeth. A similar thing can happen when construction workers hold nails in their teeth.&amp;quot; Other bad habits for teeth, he adds: gnawing on pencils or pens, chewing on ice, using teeth to crack open nuts or seafood shells, biting your finger nails, etc--all can lead to distorted teeth. Be honest: Are you guilty of using your teeth as tools too? More reading: *Chew on this: Three new gums to try ... *5 sneaky smile wreckers ... *Too lazy to brush? Read this and you may be compelled to run for the toothbrush! More Ways to Get Glamour Visit Shopglamour.com for cute stuff starting at just $10! Enter the latest Glamour sweepstakes! Follow us on Twitter Add us to your iGoogle homepage Photo: Getty"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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