Say hello to the next nightmarish, excruciating, befuddling TikTok trend: shaving down your teeth with a nail file.
A fear of losing one’s teeth is extremely common. Also, with social media pressures and glistening pearly whites far and wide, people are more self-conscious over their mouths than ever before.
There’s reasonable steps we can all take towards better dental care: using a good toothpaste, mouthwash, flossing and, if you really want to, teeth whitening treatment. Here’s one thing you shouldn’t do: file your teeth to make them more even.
@miadioFiling my teeth down ##fyp ##dentist ##notreally♬ I hope I make dentists cringe – Mia Dio
One TikTok user @miado says before committing the dental crime: ‘I’m going to file my teeth down with a nail file because they are not perfect, I have some ridges, and we’re balling on a budget.’
When she starts to see success, she says: ‘Guys it’s literally working… wait, let me give myself some vampire teeth now.’
@millennial_rdhIs filing your teeth safe? @acerendulicc ##dentist ##teeth ##filingdown ##duet♬ original sound – Iman
If you can bear the sound of the teeth being shaved away, drag-by-drag, there’s plenty more videos out there. In order to try and save more teens from ruining their mouths, dentists and orthodontists have been speaking out on the dangers of the trend.
Dr Benjamin Winters (@thebentist) an Arkansas-based orthodontist who happens to have more than 5.4 million followers on the platform, said: ‘Don’t get mad at me when your teeth are more sensitive than a two year old crying over spilled milk, cause I ain’t gonna help you. You’re gonna need some veneers or something.’
In another video, he explained further:
This is actually something we do, it’s called enameloplasty… and us as dentists and orthodontists, we do this with a lot of people. But you need to know specifics before you can do stuff like this. You can’t do this by yourself with a nail file.
The problem with that is… everybody has a set amount of enamel… once you go through it, you hit your nerve and blood and pain and nastiness. It’s just terrible, you don’t want that. It’s bad news.
Dentistry student Tara Aboumahboub (@dentara__) also said: ‘If you shave down that top layer, which is the most protective layer might I add, it does not grow back… whatever you do, stop filing them – just don’t do it.’
@dentara__I’m gonna freak
