If you try to file or shave your teeth at home, you can damage the enamel on your teeth, which can lead to a whole host of other problems. You can't regrow tooth enamel, so any damage is irreversible. You might even wind up needing a veneer or crown if the damage is severe enough.
Dentists say that no one should ever file their own teeth, since it can cause permanent damage. We all love the life hacks and fun advice shared on TikTok, but dentists are warning against an alarming new trend where users file their own teeth at home with nail files or other household objects.
Shaving off too much enamel greatly accelerates tooth decay. You also risk developing tooth sensitivity, nerve inflammation and irritation. Correcting a DIY teeth shaving job will require restorative or cosmetic dentistry.
Enamel reshaping can improve how your smile looks
The short answer is "yes." If the damage is minor, the dentist might be able to file the tooth and smooth out the chip. If the damage is severe, the tooth will probably require more than enamel reshaping. In any case, do not fret about a chipped tooth.
Does teeth filing hurt? The short answer is—no. There are no nerve endings in your enamel, nor will your dentist touch the dentin or root of your tooth through the procedure.
Beside the bacteria that can build up on used nail files, “filing down your teeth using a nail file is incredibly damaging and could cause permanent damage to the tooth structure as well as the enamel around the edge of the tooth," warns Sunny Sihra, Lead dentist and owner of the Simply Teeth Clinic.
Shaving teeth enamel is absolutely safe as long as it is done within reason. In a healthy individual average thickness of outside layer of the tooth, which is the hardest substance in the body, is about 1mm. It can safely be shaved up to 0.5mm and still preserve tooth integrity.
Ways to Make Big Front Teeth Smaller
Trimming – An advanced cosmetic dentist can use diamond burs and diamond strips to trim your teeth carefully. Your cosmetic dentist might need to narrow your teeth by filing them down on the sides and shorten them by trimming the biting edges.
According to American Cosmetic Dentistry, the cost of teeth reshaping (also called contouring) treatment typically is between $50 to $300 per tooth before (and if!) insurance helps cover it.
Filing your teeth removes tooth enamel, which puts you at risk of nerve inflammation, irritation, and tooth sensitivity. Furthermore, it can eventually cause tooth decay. Unlike your nails, which grow back, the enamel is gone forever, and permanent damage will be done.
Use a non-metal emery board to file your tooth, placing it flat against your tooth before slowly filing it down with back-and-forth motions. Relieve pain with orthodontic wax if you can't file the tooth on your own, take pain relievers, and eat soft foods.
Sometimes your front teeth look large because of your gums. If your gums are not properly contoured, it can change the shape and size of your teeth. It could be your gums covering too much of the lateral incisors, causing them to look small, or not covering enough of your front teeth, making them look big.
This is a type of malocclusion (overbite) that causes your upper teeth to protrude out. For some, this can make the front teeth appear larger than they are. There are several causes of buck teeth including genetics, missing teeth, impacted teeth, extra teeth, thumb sucking, or even using a pacifier too long.
The protective layer of enamel you're chipping away at is limited. Once you break through it, the damage is done. It's such an important part of your tooth's health, and without it, you're basically just shortening the lifespan of your teeth. Soon, you could experience tooth sensitivity and even loss.
If the break caused a jagged or sharp edge, cover it with sugarless gum or some wax paraffin. This will prevent it from cutting the inside of your cheek or your tongue. Also, if you must eat, avoid biting down on the chipped tooth and choose soft foods.
The process of teeth shaving goes by a variety of names: teeth contouring, teeth filling, teeth reshaping and teeth slenderizing. The goal is to fixed chipped teeth so that they are smooth and look good inside the mouth. Most of the time, teeth shaving is considered cosmetic and is not covered by insurance.
Patients usually ask about the process of “shaving” or “filing” teeth as a way to make space for straightening. The name of this procedure is “Interpxoimal Reduction,” (aka IPR) because it involves reducing the enamel width in the area between the teeth.
Enameloplasty is a treatment more commonly referred to as teeth contouring or tooth reshaping. It involves making careful adjustments to teeth by gently filing them to create more harmonious sizes, shapes, and levels, to help balance out and enhance a smile.
Though the logic behind it might seem a bit silly, it is deemed a sexy smile because the front two teeth are usually the longest when they first come in after your baby teeth before they are ground down over time. Thus, longer front teeth are associated with youth, warmth and thus sex appeal.
While this saying has become normalized in modern speech, the truth is that human teeth do not continue growing for all of one's life. What is true is that the teeth have a tendency to appear longer over the years. While teeth can appear longer, they are not actually growing in size.
Thus, longer front teeth are associated with youth, warmth and thus sex appeal. This is a good smile to choose if you have an attractive nose, sharp chin, and prominent lips, as the longer incisors draw attention to those areas of the face. Also, if you want to appear younger, longer central incisors are recommended.
There are also some things you should never do at home if you chip a tooth. Never, ever try and file down a chipped tooth. Doing so can easily compromise the tooth enamel and the dentin beneath it, both of which are important parts of your oral health.
How Can You Get Rough Teeth Edges Smoothed? You can get rough teeth edges smooth with a procedure called enameloplasty. It is also referred to as cosmetic contouring or teeth filing. A cosmetic dentist can reshape your tooth enamel and polish your teeth afterward.