Your teeth and smile are valuable, and it’s essential to be careful about your lifestyle and habits. You may have a lot of habits that can damage your teeth without being aware of them. Therefore, it’s important to gain information from reliable sources like professional emergency dentists to understand which habits you need to quit to keep your smile healthy. As a dentist at affordable dentistry in New West explains, one of the most damaging habits for your teeth is chewing ice. Unfortunately, many people tend to take ice cubes to chew on, which can lead to different issues and dental emergencies later. All emergency dentists explain how harmful ice chewing can be and why it is bad for your teeth. You have to take dental emergencies seriously, as they can ruin your beautiful smile and cause unwanted pain and discomfort. Today’s article explains everything you need to know about ice chewing, its side effects, and how it is related to dental emergencies.
Why Do Some People Tend to Chew Ice Cubes?
People like to chew ice for different reasons. If you find yourself willing to chew ice for more than a month, you need to be careful because it can impact your lift clinically and become an addiction. Furthermore, chewing ice can signify more severe problems like iron deficiency. In any case, you should visit your experienced emergency dentist and ask for help.
What Dental Emergencies Can Be Caused by Chewing Ice?
Ice cubes are too hard to chew, which is why chewing them can lead to dental emergencies like:
- Dental chips and cracks
- Damaged tooth nerve
- Damaged tooth enamel
- Tooth fractures
These problems can be caused for everyone who chews ice cubes, regardless of age. Also, your crowns or veneers can’t protect your teeth from getting damaged after chewing ice.
Is There any Long-term Damage from Chewing Ice?
Some invisible surface cracks can develop over time if you continue chewing ice. Therefore, the risk of serious dental emergencies like tooth infections, cavities, etc., can increase. So, it’s important to visit your emergency dentist regularly as they can detect those invisible dental cracks and fix them before they can cause serious complications.
What about Soft Ice?
There is a specific type of ice called soft ice for people with chewing ice addiction. Although this kind of ice is harmless, emergency dentists still highly recommend verifying the type of ice you have before chewing it. Yet, it’s still recommended to give up the chewing ice habit completely and use soft ice temporarily.
What Should You Do If You Damage Your Teeth While Chewing Ice?
It’s not a good experience to feel a sharp pain when you chew ice. It can be a sign of a cracked, chipped or fractured tooth. If you damage your teeth while chewing ice, you must visit your emergency dentist immediately. Your emergency dentist can examine your oral condition and save the damaged tooth with treatments like fillings, crowns or even root canal therapy.
Don’t forget to follow your dentist’s instructions if you want to protect your smile!
