Had my appointment today. Went well. The dentist was interested to see if it would actually work as a habit breaker and I promised them a bottle of champagne if it did work! She also said that as it has occlusal coverage it can affect the bite as it is more of a brace than a retainer but I said I don’t have the habit when I sleep so I’ll wear my retainer at night and the brace sporadically during the day during times I normally bite my nails like watching tv or driving. She said I need to go back every 3-4 weeks to make sure it’s not detrimentally affecting my bite which I agreed to but she was intrigued to see if this works. Will go back to get the appliance in a few weeks when they call me in. Not sure if any of you bite your nails but if this works I shall keep you posted. If it does it will be the best investment I have made, if it doesn’t it’s not the most expensive thing to try.

Looking forward to seeing it!

Very nice

Just thought I’d update on progress as this brace is working wonders. A week in and I have nails for the first time in 30+ years. It’s still early days but having tried everything else I really didn’t think a removable brace would be the thing that worked!! I know this is a braces forum and not a nail biting forum but if anyone else has the habit and wants to stop I really would recommend this. You can wear the brace when you know you normally bite your nails so you can manage most of the time to not have to wear it in awkward situations. I’ve been wearing it out a few times but not with friends or family and I don’t wear it at night or in meetings. It’s really not as much trouble as I thought it would be. Id love to hear if anyone else has this habit and would consider the same treatment. I would recommend it as a last resort for sure. It’s only been a week or so, so don’t want to get ahead of myself but it’s really shocking how much it’s worked.

I am also an avid nail biter ever since I remember (and I remember biting my nails back when I was 4 or 5 y/o). My parents tried everything back then without any success.

Having started my treatment with removable braces half a year ago and having gotten occlusal coverage (and quite a hefty one at that) I also noticed that I couldn't bite my nails anymore.
Over six years ago I got a night guard for my top teeth (~1mm occlusal coverage but on all teeth including the incisors) which was constructed in such a way that all teeth met the guard. I tried wearing that during the day when I'd normally bite nails. But all it took was a few days for me to find a spot where I could continue biting my nails...
Only now with just posterior bite planes I'm really unable to do so. I cut my fingernails for the first time ever a few weeks ago! That was such a crazy thing! The open space also reduces my lip biting a little, although not completely.

Unfortunately, as soon as I don't have the braces in, I instantly go back to subconsciously biting my nails. For example if I don't instantly put back in my braces after having finished eating and start working on stuff, I lose all fingernails again in the matter of an hour That's also why it took half a year for me to cut the nails for the very first time and why it'll probably about as long until it'll be able to cut them for the second time. I wish you more luck in that regard!

As a warning to make sure that it won't happen to you: Due to my strong clenching, the posterior occlusal coverage intruded all of my molars resulting in a posterior open bite. My bite planes were removed from my lower plate and an anterior bite plate added to my top one to extrude the molars again.
Even that one resulted in my incisors intruding quite quickly, which means my ortho now told me to only wear my braces at max 12 hours per day. RIP my fingernails, which are suffering strongly since then.

Although my ortho said that she has never seen anything like that in her whole career before, as a word of advice, if you notice that your teeth / molars not fitting together perfectly anymore, be sure to make an appointment and let your ortho check it as soon as possible.

Essix are easily breakable. I was offered that first ad discussed with the dentist but I thought they would break too often and be more expensive in the long run.

I still have the same retainer though, so it’s hopefully going to be cheaper. Fingers crossed it won’t break whereas, having spoken to the dentist, the essix one would be more prone to breaking and easier to lose it so could end up costing more. Hawley Retainer felt like the stronger and last longer