The dental dangers of ice

We know, we know: It’s really hot this month in the news and maybe even outside, but that is no excuse for harming your teeth with bad habits.  There may even be more to eating ice then you think.  The dog days of summer have arrived.  With hotter months comes more ice cream, ice-cold drinks, and ice in general. Despite ice being a great thing, though, there’s a tendency for some people to eat ice more than they realize. And we’re sure you’ve heard of the saying “it’s bad to chew on ice.”  Well, that’s not just a myth. It really does have merit. If you’re looking to get your teeth checked out because of sensitivity or a chipped tooth, just click below to visit our site and set up an appointment. Eating ice can be a great reason to head in to see your dentist because you may have some underlying issues happening that even you are not aware of.  Ice can be quite harmful to the general state of your dental health, so don’t ignore the warnings that it’s bad to chew on ice. It really is.

One of the worst things that you could be doing is actually wearing away enamel. This is a horrible thing to do because at a certain age you no longer are able to produce it.  It is so harmful to take away something from your body that you cannot replace.  

Ice isn’t a soft substance, of course, which means it’ll be able to erode your enamel over time, especially if you’re a chronic ice chewer. This is only asking for existing plaque to take hold and create cavities.  So it really is not worth chewing on ice instead of heading off to see your dentist and get a fix.  It may end up saving a ton of money as well. So make sure not to be too late on this.  Now the next thing you could do and it is directly related to loosing enamel is this.

Cracking a tooth is certainly an issue and a possibility with eating ice.  If you are chomping down on a lot of ice each day your ods of crunching a tooth go sky high. 

Just like chewing on a jawbreaker or any other hard food or item, ice can actually crack your tooth depending on where you’re chewing it at in your mouth and how brittle your teeth are. The scary thing about this is you may not even know you’ve cracked a tooth since microfractures are a thing. When this happens, you probably won’t even see or hear it take place. But once microfractures have happened, it’s much easier for bacteria to get inside your tooth.

One thing that I really do not like is having the problem of sensitizing your teeth.

Ice directly on the enamel of your teeth won’t affect your nerves much, but when a microfracture happens because of chewing on ice, it’s much easier for unwanted bacteria to get inside your tooth and attack your nerve tissue. When this happens, your teeth become much more sensitive to heat and cold. Guess what happens then? You’ll no longer even want to eat ice because it hurts too much.  So if you find yourself in any one of these areas go see your dentist and get on the right track to health.