DIY Dentistry
The trend you only wish was a joke…
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last decade you’ve undoubtedly seen the perpetuation of DIY projects. We all surf Pinterest inspired by these amazing transformations that look within reach of our abilities.
BUT, if you are like me, you know how that undertaking turns out. A massive flop! Following DIY instructions is like following an IKEA manual: rarely do projects turn out like the pictures.
SO, knowing this, the popularity of DIY dentistry surprised me. If you have no idea what I am talking about, GREAT! If you do, you know that I am talking about charcoal toothpaste, braces with rubber bands and the latest TikTok trend of filing your own teeth.
Ok, does charcoal toothpaste count as a DIY? Unless you’re buying it from the store, yes. People are legitimately making their own toothpaste, out of black activated charcoal. I have always been slightly amiss at seeing black on teeth, but maybe that is a dentist thing. What I will tell you is activated charcoal is extremely abrasive. You may get some immediate brightening (not whitening) of your smile because of the impurities being pulled from the pores of your teeth (think just like charcoal masks for your blackheads) but if will literally strip the enamel off your teeth. Over time, this will make your teeth YELLOWER and more sensitive and land you in a world of a veneers and crowns.
Next on the DIY dentistry tour: braces with rubber bands.
This trend first surfaced in my world about 4 years ago. I remember because I was driving in my car and heard it being talked about on a popular morning talk show. I live in the D.C. area. If you are familiar with this area at all, it was Elliot in the Morning. And if you know Elliot, he always plays the role of devil’s advocate. I wasn’t about to let this go unchecked, so I called in and he took my call! I felt like a celebrity for all of 5 seconds.
Anyway, besides the point, it became popular for people to attempt straightening their teeth using regular old rubber bands found in kitchen miscellaneous drawers. Ah yes, what could possibly go wrong?
Ok, so here it is laid out. Orthodontics takes a lot of training, like, 4 years of dental school plus 3 additional years just learning about tooth movement. This is to help prevent terrible outcomes, like moving your teeth out of bone, reabsorption issues from teeth moving too quickly (your tooth gets eaten away by your own body), tipping, canting of your smile, should I go on?
All things that are not good and that take a lot of effort and $$$ to fix. That is, assuming your body hast’ reabsorbed anything. Don’t play with fire, folks. And in the world of orthodonture, rubberbands are fire. You might just shoot your tooth out. Or eat it.
Last, but now least, is a new TikTok trend that I just stumbled upon this week. Filing your own teeth with your nail file. I was horrified watching people use nail files on their teeth.
Ok, first, ew. That has been on your nails and now it is in your mouth! Also, the sound! Yikes!
Listen up TikTokers: you are removing the most important and protective layer of your tooth, your enamel! We do this as dentists all the time using our discretion to help people achieve a more “even” smile if they have inherent unevenness or very small chipping. However, we also know how much enamel is there to play with before causing irreversible sensitivity and need for treatments like bonding or veneers. Until Google is giving out DDS degrees, I caution you to keep that fungus-y nail file out of your mouth.
In most things in life, I would stick by the old adage of, “If you want something done right, do it yourself,” but not this time. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE leave your teeth to the dentist and lay down the urge to give dentistry the old college try.