Why You Should Never Open A Fast Food Sauce Packet With Your Teeth

Picture it: you've just reached into a steaming bag of Burger King to nab a few limited edition Addams Family onion rings only to realize our fingers are too greasy to open the ketchup packet. So, you tear it open with your teeth. While busting open a plastic packet with your incisors may seem innocuous enough, it's a terrible idea for several reasons.

Simply put, it's not sanitary. While large fast food chains like McDonalds, have strict policies around food safety, the sauce packets that come with your favorite fast food aren't treated with the same care. They fall on the floor and are often unceremoniously tossed in the bag by a cashier not wearing gloves. 

In addition to icky hygiene issues, using your teeth to tear open plastic is risky and can lead to serious (and costly) dental problems. So, before you put that package of McDonald's ketchup anywhere near your mouth, here's what you need to know.

First, let's talk about the germs. To explain why opening a sauce packet with your teeth is at best gross, and at worst, a health and safety risk, it's important to understand the concept of cross-contamination. This happens when bacteria from one area (i.e. the floor) gets transported to another (i.e. a fast food sauce packet).

Speaking from experience as a former fast food worker, sauce packets are slippery and they frequently fall on the ground during the restocking process. While this may not seem like a big deal, even the cleanest floors can be home to some pretty gnarly bacteria. In fact, research from the University of Arizona shows that the average shoe sole is contaminated with 421,000 units of bacteria. This includes E.coli and Clostridium difficile — or C. Diff – a bacteria that causes intestinal infections – to name a few. Unless you're getting food from a restaurant where no one wears shoes, ever, putting that sauce packet in your mouth means you risk ingesting some of that bacteria that's been transferred to the floor.

Also, money is notoriously dirty. So, if your cashier touches your sauce packets without gloves on, there's also a risk of cross-contamination.

If the potential for bacteria wasn't enough to give you the ick, consider your teeth, gums and wallet. As per the Red Maple Dental website, "Biting and tearing into plastic with your teeth could potentially chip, fracture, or break one (or several) of [them]." You also risk cutting or scratching your gums (ouch). Not only that, but regularly using your teeth to open packaging can wear down your enamel, leaving behind weakened teeth that are more prone to breaking and cracks, which could result in you needing a root canal.

The corrugated edges on sauce packets are there for a reason – to help you open them as safely as possible. So, unless you're dying to undergo a painful and costly dental procedure, use them as intended or wait for a pair of scissors. While it may not give the instant gratification of tearing open a packet like an animal, your teeth — not to mention your germaphobe friends — will thank you.