Biting your nails poses a threat to your gums. Gum disease and gum recession can both be caused by nail biting as your fingernails transport bacteria into your mouth and can damage or infect your gum tissue. Another risk posed by nail biting is bad breath, as germs are constantly brought into your mouth.
Chronic nail biting can also leave you vulnerable to infection as you pass harmful bacteria and viruses from your mouth to your fingers and from your nails to your face and mouth. To help you stop biting your nails, dermatologists recommend the following tips: Keep your nails trimmed short.
They found that the space under the fingernails, also called the subungual region, was “an important site” for harbouring bacteria. Other parts of the volunteers' hands were home to hundreds to thousands of bacteria, while the subungual areas yielded hundreds of thousands of bacteria per fingertip.
When you bite your nails, those bacteria end up in your mouth and gut, where they can cause gastro-intestinal infections that lead to diarrhea and abdominal pain. Long-term, habitual nail nibblers can also suffer from a type of infection called paronychia, Scher says.
Biting your nails poses a threat to your gums.
Gum disease and gum recession can both be caused by nail biting as your fingernails transport bacteria into your mouth and can damage or infect your gum tissue. Another risk posed by nail biting is bad breath, as germs are constantly brought into your mouth.
Those affected with dermatophagia typically bite the skin around the nails, leading to bleeding and discoloration over time. Some people also bite on their skin on their finger knuckles which can lead to pain and bleeding just by moving their fingers.
But as to why nail-biting is so addictive (20 to 30 per cent of us do it), there's little research. We can speculate that it is to do with its cost-free ease, practicality and relative social acceptability, and there's the rewarding aspect of getting each nail just how you want it.
Famous superstars Tom Cruise, Eva Mendes, Elijah Wood, Britney Spears, Phil Collins and Andy Roddick are all celebrity nail chewers, among others.
Although to many people, nail biting is an occasional thing, for 20% to 30% (or more) of Americans, nail biting is a behavior they can't stop on their own. In fact, healthcare providers classify chronic nail biting as a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder or a body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB).
Patches of white skin, known as leukoderma, underneath the nail can sometimes give the impression of partial leukonychia. Leukonychia can be divided into two other types – true or apparent: When the white spot or line is caused by damage to the nail, the condition is known as true leukonychia.
Nail psoriasis sometimes causes too much keratin to grow under the nail. This overgrowth is called subungual hyperkeratosis. People with hyperkeratosis may notice a white, chalky substance under the nail. When this occurs in the toenails, the pressure of shoes pushing down on the nails might cause pain.
That chalky substance is likely keratin debris, which is formed when keratin protein (a.k.a. fibrous protein found in the nails and outer layer of the skin) breaks down, usually due to fungal infection.
Our nails have more bacteria than any other surface, including a toilet seat and the London Underground. You may want to think twice before biting your nails with the analysis revealing the bacteria found underneath them comes to a gruesome average of 50,430 per nail.
Score one for the hygiene hypothesis. A new study has shown nail-biting and thumb-sucking - two pretty effective ways of exposing oneself to environmental microbes - are associated with lower rates of positive skin-prick tests, or atopic sensitization.
Nail biting explained
Anxiety: Nail biting can be a sign of anxiety or stress. The repetitive behavior seems to help some people cope with challenging emotions. Boredom: Behaviors such as nail biting and hair twirling are more common when you're bored, hungry, or need to keep your hands busy.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, categorizes chronic nail biting as other specified obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), classified in the same group as compulsive lip biting, nose picking, and hair pulling (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).
According to a study published in the March 2015 issue of Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, nail biters are more likely to be perfectionists. Now, you may expect someone who aims for perfection to have immaculately polished nails, but that's not the case, says Dr.
Nail biting can also be classified as a self-injurious behavior such as pathological skin-picking or as a stereotypic movement disorder. Others believe that NB is a part of obsessive compulsive disorder spectrum.
Biting Nails
This habit indicates nerves or insecurity. Whether this means they are nervous about talking to you or just in general, this can be a telling body language cue. It can show that you might be making them nervous (which can be a good or bad thing).
Cute aggression can also be considered a part of our “social biting” which we may have learnt from our ancestors. According to a research conducted psychological scientists of Yale University, the desire to pseudo-bite or squeeze anything we find excruciatingly cute is actually a neurochemical reaction.
Dermatodaxia describes humans who bite their skin. Previously used designations, which are less appropriate, have included chewing pads, wolf-biter, and dermatophagia. Dermatodaxia is a body-focused repetitive behavior and is classified in the category of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders.