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Filing Your Teeth: The New Worrying Trend on TikTok

On social networks, it is obvious that we can discover absolutely everything!

Launched in 2016, TikTok, the mobile video sharing application, is not like the others. This social platform, which the younger generation loves, has become an ephemeral trendsetter for some time. Many influencers take advantage of their notoriety on TikTok in order to influence their subscribers, with a purely marketing purpose.

Lately, in search of a perfect smile, these networking enthusiasts praise the practice of filing their teeth and then getting “veneers”. If this exercise is still forbidden in some countries, influencers do not hesitate to promote this somehow dangerous operation.

What are the risks linked to this practice? Is it dangerous for our oral health? Your South Shore dentists at the Centre Dentaire & d’Implantologie Boucherville tell you more about this subject.

A Trend… Not So Trendy!

A Discouraged Practice, Sometimes Forbidden

In dentistry, the practice of filing teeth is more commonly known as teeth grinding or stripping. In France, for example, dental surgeons are not allowed to file healthy teeth on a patient. Indeed, health professionals performing this act could be sued for mutilation. Only in the case of concrete medical reasons is this operation allowed.

Unfortunately, most of the time, only the fashion effect attracts young tiktokers who do not suspect that a filed tooth is irreversible. This action cannot be undone. Only the placement of braces or implants can reduce the damage caused by the filing of teeth.

Although this practice to follow a short-lived fashion is not recommended, dental stripping and orthodontics go hand in hand. Indeed, in order to align teeth, one or more teeth can be filed down. This technique allows us to gain space before implementing an orthodontic treatment. In the case of overlapping teeth, some patients may resort to this procedure.

A Danger to Oral Health

Turning healthy teeth into shark teeth, whose only objective is to achieve a result based on a fashion effect, can present major risks.

Indeed, in this type of practice, the root of the tooth, as well as its vitality and pulp, will be impacted. The risk of repeated inflammation of the gums becomes high, causing bad breath or root infection.

In addition, the tooth enamel will be damaged during the milling process, which consists of digging out brittle and damaged parts of the tooth in order to heal it.

In general, filing teeth before the age of majority is subject to risk. This procedure often results in edentulism which means the absence or loss of one or more teeth, in adulthood.

Existing Alternatives

Various alternatives can be considered and suggested to patients in order to compensate for their discomfort to their teeth. The result will not be the same, but it can make you feel better.

At the Centre Dentaire & d’Implantologie Boucherville, we can advise that you have dental whitening. In fact, readjusting the brightness of your smile will allow you to gradually regain your self-confidence. Your teeth will become whiter without having been attacked. The principle is based on the introduction of a chemical substance that penetrates the tooth and charges the stained molecules through the oxidation process.

We can also consider orthodontic treatment for overlapping teeth. Today, dental alignment can be corrected with effective and discreet orthodontic devices. We have been practicing this specialization at the Centre for many years.

In summary, filing healthy teeth to keep up with a trend is risky. Removing excess enamel becomes a problem down the road.

However, although this act is possible, it must be carried out within a medical framework. This exercise must be performed by dental experts who will follow a procedure in order to resolve the problems observed. Bear in mind that alternative methods also exist in order to help you learn to love your smile again.

At the Centre Dentaire & d’Implantologie Boucherville, we take the health of our patients very seriously. We recommend that you make an appointment now with our professionals who will tell you everything your smile needs!

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