Prolonged retainer wear?

[Tinkerbelle]

Hi,

I'm new to this place and I found it by googling because I wanted to know about my situation.

So here's the backstory. I had braces when I was 12 til I was 15. I had them off and I was given retainers to wear. About 6 months later I broke the bottom one and went back to get a new one made. I've had the retainers ever since and I have been very diligent in wearing them first all day, then only at night, then weekends only and finally now I am 27 and surprisingly they still fit. I never went back beyond the first year for retainer adjustments. I stopped wearing the retainers the summer I had my wisdom teeth removed. I didn't notice much difference in teeth movement since then, but ever since I entered grad school I developed a nasty bad habit of biting the skin around my fingernails and I think it's due to anxiety of grad school and a combination of other factors I can't identify but Im wondering if it's alright to continue wearing my retainers even though the reason I wear them is because I learned when I have the retainers in my mouth while I am writing my thesis, I don't end up biting my fingers because the retainers block me from having easy access to gnawing. (Sorry for how strange this habit sounds, but that's why I googled instead of seeking out my professional dentist about it!)

Are there any risks that I should be aware of if I continue to do this?
I noticed that ever since I started wearing them again my front 2 teeth and some of my bottom ones have gotten a little "loose"...it makes me feel uncomfortable because I'm afraid I may mess up my straightness that years of orthodontia has achieved! [The reason I had braces was because they wanted to close my gap in the front of my upper teeth, realign my bite correctly, and sort out the overcrowded/crooked-shark teeth syndrome of my bottom teeth---they were a mess!]

I want to break the gnawing habit, but I don't know how else to do it. I put Neosporin on so that (a) it heals and (b) tastes gross so I wont likely bite, but when it dries I am right back to it if I'm writing a paper at the time. It never happens in any other settings than when I'm writing.

Please help with any insight or advice if you have any to offer! I really feel embarrassed about it because I'm 27 and I should NOT be biting/gnawing on/around my finger/nails!