Nails are made of dense layers of cells being pushed to the surface of your finger. Ridges on your nails correspond to skin ridges under your nails – these help hold your nails in place.

When the shape of your nail changes, the connection between those ridges get weaken, and nails start growing into the sides of your skin. This is known as an ingrown nail.

This is the reason why you should stop biting your nail – it can cause the change in your nail shape that leads to abnormal growth of your nail.

Nail biting also brings these risks include:

  • Infection in and on the skin around your nail

  • Damage to the tissue where your nails grow

  • Changes in the appearance of your nail

  • Abnormal growth

  • Increase the opportunity to get colds or other illness from placing dirty fingers in your mouth.

If untreated, ingrown nails cause severe pain and redness, which may interfere your everyday life. Here is some tips to prevent you from biting your nails:

  1. Keep them short

If there is nothing to chew, you won’t feel as urged to bite your nails.

  1. Put a manicure on

You may hesitate more to chew your nail if your nails have manicure on. Your nails look great too!

  1. Make your nail bitter

If a manicure isn’t enough, you can even flavor your nails. If may sound strange at first, but using a biter-flavored varnish (i.e. ORLY) may help change your habit. You can apply this kind of varnish over your bare or manicured nails.

  1. Always have something to chew

If you cannot resist the urge to chew, have something else to chew with you. For example, a company called Ark makes a silicone Saber Tooth necklace that is meant for anyone who need to chew. (Note: you may want to talk to your dentist if you decide to use it)

  1. Start from one nail

Maybe you’ve tried everything but still cannot kick your bad habit. If so, you can try cutting the habit by focusing on just one nail at a time, as the American Academy of Dermatology suggests.

Biting your nails may cause some bad effects to your nails such as ingrown nails and infection. Take care of your nail for the improvement of your overall health!