Biting a nail, swallowing it mechanically… We tell ourselves that it is of no consequence. And the rumor persists: eating your nails would even be neutral, even liberating, in the face of stress. True or false?
Onychophagia, this gesture which consists of biting your nailsaffects 20 to 30% of the general population. Often associated with anxiety, it starts in childhood and can continue into adulthood. The real subject is health.
Biting your nails: the myth of appendicitis and the medical reality
“This habit often appears in childhood and can continue into adulthood“, specifies Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency physician. “Biting your nails responds to a need for emotional management or unconscious automatism, sometimes associated with behavioral disorders such as OCD or certain anxiety-provoking periods of life.“, adds the doctor.
Does this habit promote the occurrence of appendicitis? On this subject, the specialist is categorical: “Biting your nails does not cause appendicitis: this is a popular myth with no recognized medical basis“Besides, he recalls, “The most common cause is the stagnation of food residues or local infections, not the ingestion of elements such as nail tips, which would be an extremely rare scenario.“. And to insist: “There is no scientific evidence that nail biting causes appendicitis“.
The real health dangers
But on the dental health side, the consequences are real. “Teeth are not tools. This practice creates micro-cracks in the incisors and poses a risk of fracture.“, reveals dental surgeon Christophe Lequart, spokesperson for the French Union for Oral Health, on AlloDocteurs. An even greater impact on device wearers, “Those who wear braces have small plates on their teeth that are used to hold the wire. Biting your teeth has the risk of detaching these platelets“, he continues. Enamel wears away, sensitivity increases, and the effectiveness of certain treatments may decrease.
In addition, the risk of infection is very real. “When you bite your nails, it will pass into the digestive tract. There are bacteria and this can create digestive problems“, observes Dr. Gérald Kierzek. He also warns: “This practice also promotes oral, gingival, periodontal or skin infections, because the germs present under the nails are found in the mouth or around the nail“, before recalling that “the lesions can be painful, cause local inflammation and sometimes develop into a whitlow“.
Microbiologist Jeffrey Kaplan provides a striking figure: “Studies have found 32 different bacteria and 28 different fungi under the nails“, he assures, quoted by USA Today. “Biting your nails is therefore not trivial, especially when winter viruses are on the rise. This habit makes your fingers a gateway for pathogens“, he adds. And Dr Christophe Lequart adds on the contagious aspect: “This can develop into mycosis or promote the transmission of viral diseases such as gastroenteritis or Covid-19.“.
Stop biting your nails: methods that really help
To get rid of it, working on the trigger is the key. “We must find out why there was this stress and why there was this response and we must be able to decondition ourselves from this obsessive-compulsive disorder.“, explains Dr Gérald Kierzek. With children, the approach must remain caring: “Above all, we must not sanction him, because he will do it in secret and we will not monitor him 24/7“, recalled Dr. Inès Zaraa, dermatologist, to Health Mag.
Concrete tools exist, including simple and accessible solutions:
- Identify your triggers (stress, boredom) and replace the gesture with another manual action;
- Apply a bitter varnish in pharmacies to break the reflex in the mouth;
- Apply false nails to create a temporary barrier. “During the break we can’t eat them. This allows the impact to be spaced out over time. Even if for men it’s more complicated“, notes Dr. Gérald Kierzek;
- Put a bandage or flesh-colored plaster on the nail to become aware of the action;
- Test ithypnosis or brief behavioral therapy if the behavior is established.
Last practical point, useful in winter: limiting hand-mouth contact reduces exposure to seasonal viruses. And in the event of pain, swelling, local heat, or an infected nail, consulting avoids the
whitlow and its complications.