Whether as a response to anxiety, as a bad act of grooming or as an obsessive, relentless habit, a lot of us bite out nails. It is a habit common in kids of all ages although a lot of people eventually outgrow it with time. Probably because of how common it is, most parents to give a second thought about their kid biting their fingernails. Sara Guidry, a concerned parent, is not sending out a warning to parents on the danger of letting your kids bite their nails without checking them.

It started when Sara’s son Kale started complaining about a strange pain in his gums. Out of concern, the mother decided to take a look at her son’s mouth to see what was causing him such discomfort. She reached for the flashlight and asked the boy to open wide. She found an area of his gum had an inflammation. This wasn’t unexpected since he was always complaining of pain in his gum, but what was shocking was the cause of the pain.

While examining her son’s gums, Sara soon found something planted inside the gun. Sensing it wasn’t normal and hoping it is something she could fix on her own, the mother grabber her tweezers and pulled at the alien material in her son’s gum. Surprisingly she pulled out a fingernail. Then she poked on and pulled out another, then another. While Sara was aware that her son bites his nail, like most parents, she didn’t give much thought to it. Neither did she expect that it could one day accumulate so much in his mouth as to cause him serious discomfort.

Sara took to Facebook to warn other parents about the dangers of nail-biting. Here is what she wrote:

“I get a tweezer and pull it. It looked like a fingernail. I continued to pull four more out. I then search his mouth and find another area. I pulled around 27 out of the second spot. YES, 27!”

In total, Kale had 32 fingernail pieces in his gums. It is strange that the boy had this many inside his mouth. And the reason was a strange one, but the dentist explained it to mom and her son.

“We figured out that Kale bites his nails and plays with them in his mouth. He pushes them up towards his pallet. The nail penetrates the skin and goes into a pocket between the baby teeth and permanent teeth. Don’t let your children bite their nails!”

Every parent who read Sara’s post is understandably shocked by her story. Probably before most of them are likely to have a kid at home that bites his nail and they simply dismissed it as inconsequential. Now Sara’s story has opened up their eyes new dangers asides the usual danger of possible infections or damage to the nail bed site most parent knew about before. Sara’s warning to parent is an eye-opener and has been shared several times by concerned parents, and many of the parents expressed their shock at what they considered completely harmless in the past.

Maybe Sara’s warning to make parents more observant and prevent kids from having their gums wounded as Kale did. You can help spread the word by sharing this story as well.