Most of us have done it. It’s a hot summer day. You’re on the road for a long drive out of town. This weekend get-away is well deserved and you’ve been counting down the minutes. You have to stop to gas up, use the restroom, and get an ice cold fountain beverage. You ingest the thirst quenching liquid all too quickly, and now you still have hours left of your drive. Between your boredom, and the heat, you engage in the activity of chewing on the remaining ice cubes. They’re coldness refreshes you, while the act of chomping the hard cubes into tiny shards that melt on your tongue passes the time much more quickly. But what about the health and safety of your teeth?
Let Them Melt
True, your mouth is a warm environment where ice cubes can swiftly melt away into cold water with no threat to your teeth. Water is crucial to your salivary gland production, so does it really matter if the H2O starts in a frozen state? If you are simply sucking on an ice cube until it melts, there isn’t much harm to your teeth unless they are sensitive to cold temperatures. It’s biting and chewing on ice cubes that can really cause harm in the form of cracks, chips, fractures, and breaks.
Tooth Damage from Ice Chewing
Ice is extremely hard. While cubes may start in a uniform shape and size, they melt at different rates inside a cup of liquid, rendering them irregular in shape. Biting down or chewing on any hard food or non-food item is a huge risk to the health of your tooth enamel. Enamel is designed to protect your teeth, but you’re still responsible for protecting your enamel. Not only are you at risk for breaking a tooth or harming tooth enamel when you chew ice, but you could always damage existing dental work. Fillings, bonding, and crowns can easily become broken from ice chomping. When natural teeth or existing restorations are damaged to a point that the nerves are hurt, you may require a root canal procedure. The safest bet is to avoid chewing ice altogether.
ABOUT YOUR PALATINE DENTIST:
Dr. Brent Engelberg and his highly-skilled team proudly serve patients and their families from Arlington Heights, IL, and all surrounding communities, including; Northbrook, Deerfield, Highland Park, Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, Vernon Hills, Lincolnshire, Libertyville, Skokie, Evanston, Palatine, Schaumburg, Elk Grove Village, Rolling Meadows, and the Northern and Northwest Chicago Suburbs. To learn more, schedule a consultation online, or call our office today at 847-259-8030.
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