If you read the blogs on Kiefer Family Dental, you will learn a lot of dental tips. Here is a serious tip that we cannot stress enough.
Did you know that tooth enamel is the hardest substance in your body? It’s even stronger than your bones. Even with this being true, your teeth have their fair share of enemies. Biting your nails, sipping on lemon water, and chewing through a bag of hard candies are sure to mess with your teeth. But dentists have also sounded the alarm about another common practice that could cause irreparable damage to your teeth. This practice is CHEWING ICE!
Chewing the ice in your drink may seem like a harmless habit but dentists warn that doing this could lead to severe damage. It can cause all sorts of problems, including cracked or chipped teeth and damage to the enamel, which could lead to future tooth sensitivity and pain. Although these may not seem like major issues, they’re likely to be permanent.
The damage resulting from chewing ice is not reversible since enamel does not grow back. Once damaged, the only solution to chipped teeth is veneers, dental bonding, or fillings. All of these are procedures that Kiefer Family Dental can do, but why if we don’t have to?
Cold / Hot Temps on Teeth
Even Your Gums are at Risk
Your Teeth Can Crack
Although your teeth are very strong, they’re sometimes no match for ice. Ice is an incredibly strong material, and so is enamel. By repeatedly chewing on ice, you can cause small fracture lines in your teeth. You may not notice it today or tomorrow, but if you chew ice frequently, your teeth will weaken and risk fracturing one day. This should be enough to make one stop.
Your teeth are porous and microscopic cracks do form. If ice is chewed, the enamel gets slightly brittle and the small, microscopic cracks expand and contract with the cold and the warming in the mouth. The cracks aren’t all you have to worry about. Bacteria are smaller than the cracks and love to hide in the cracks to form colonies. Chromogenic bacteria leave a trace we can see with the naked eye in that the crack appears brown or black.
In Conclusion
Your enamel functions as a barrier for your teeth. When that barrier is diminished, you’ll hit the dentin, just below the enamel, which is softer and more prone to dental decay. The seemingly harmless habit “can end up irritating the soft tissue or the pulp, inside a tooth, and toothache can follow.
We at Kiefer Family Dental hope that the information about chewing ice was helpful. The office of Kiefer Family Dental provides the best in modern dentistry for individuals and families including solving all dental issues you may encounter.
Our highly-qualified dentists and gentle hygienists work hard to combine knowledge and skill with the latest in technology to give our patients the best possible dental outcomes. With services ranging from periodontal therapy, oral surgery. dental implants, dentures and even being set up for Invisalign clear braces, Kiefer Family Dental is your Evansville, Indiana A+ dental choice. Call (812) 424-9506 or use the website to book an appointment online.
