Ice, Ice Baby

by Andrea Harris

Photo Credit: WebMD.com

I love ice.  It’s so... munchy. It was one of the the things I missed the most when I spent a whole summer in Europe with barely an ice cube in sight.  

“Pleeeeease,” we’d beg the wait staff, “just bring our drinks with some ice!!”  

We got some weird looks, but it was a million degrees outside and all we wanted were cold drinks!  The night we found a place that brought us pitchers of ice with our water was the most magical night of the trip.  Who knew something I’d taken for granted all my life would be such a luxury elsewhere!

Luckily, most of us can just push a button right on the front of the fridge and get as much ice as we want. And right now, at the height of swimsuit season, it’s cold, refreshing, and calorie-free.  The perfect summer crunch, right?  

Not so fast!  

According to WebMD, “munching on hard, frozen cubes can chip or even crack your teeth. And if your mindless chomping irritates the soft tissue inside a tooth, regular toothaches may follow. Hot foods and cold foods may trigger quick, sharp jabs of pain or a lingering toothache.”

Interestingly (and contrary to popular belief), “it's not the fact that ice is cold that's the problem,” said Dr. Thomas Kilgore, a professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery at the Boston University School of Dental Medicine. “It's that ice cubes, like nuts, are so hard they can chip or crack teeth, especially teeth already weakened by large, old fillings.”

"Nine times out of 10, you can chew ice and it won't have any effect," Kilgore said. But teeth can be structurally weakened by fillings, which makes them more susceptible to fracture from biting hard substances.  If the filling has weakened the enamel, the tooth might crack."

And once you have a cracked tooth, whether because of chewing ice or something else, you may have to have a root canal or even need a crown or lose the tooth, said Dr. Jamie Wong, an assistant clinical professor of prosthodontics and operative dentistry at the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.

Think about it, cracked or broken teeth can be expensive and uncomfortable.  Trust me, I’ve had a few... and yes (true confessions!), I’m a former ice chewer!  So, if you HAVE to nosh some ice from the bottom of your summertime sip-- save your smile and just suck, don’t chew!