All you have to know about Nail-biting disorder

Many of us have a tendency of biting nails, this  condition is also  known as Onychophagia. It is compulsive and as well as repetitive in nature. It is associated with anxiety, because the act of chewing on nails reportedly relieves stress, tension, or boredom. It is observed in people who usually bite their nails are often tend to do so when they feel nervous, bored, lonely, or even hungry.

According to the American Psychiatric Association, this  disorder of biting nails is characterised as –

1. Obsessive– unwanted thoughts, ideas, or even sensations of an individual are considered as obsessions.
2. Compulsive­- when obsessions make them driven to do something repetitively then they are considered as compulsions.

Nail biting can lead to-

1. Social and psychological complications and
2. Physical complications

Social and psychological complications : Social and psychological complications like humiliation, emotional suffering, and social impairment.

Physical complications: Physical complications  like malformed nails, increased risk of parasitic infections, infection of the nail and surrounding soft tissue; stomach infections due to swallowing nail particles and dirt; injury to the gums, pain in the temporomandibular (TMJ) joint or jaw joint , self-inflicted gingival injuries, secondary bacterial infections are also associated with nail biting.