Your teeth bite and chew regularly throughout your day without suffering lasting damage. However, abnormal pressure could cause a tooth to chip, crack, or fracture, an injury that will disrupt the look of your smile as well as put your tooth in danger of further harm.
Your dentist can restore the health, function, and appearance of the tooth with dental solutions. But ideally, you should preserve the natural structure of your smile as much as you can.
When you know that certain food items could crack a tooth, you can learn what they are to better avoid this dental injury. Read on to find four examples of foods that could pose a risk of breaking your teeth.
4 Food Items That May Crack a Tooth
Popcorn
Popcorn makes for a fun, easy-to-eat snack that you can enjoy from the comfort of your home or out at a movie theater. Its light, fluffy texture is appealing but it can hide a hard unpopped kernel in your bowl. If you try to chew one of these kernels, you could easily break a tooth.
If you do chip, crack, or fracture your tooth, do not wait to tell your dentist about the problem. They will want to treat the injury promptly and will likely ask you to attend an emergency dentist appointment.
This way, they can protect the tooth from other threats as soon as possible. Delaying dental attention may mean that the crack can deepen and worsen, requiring more care from your dentist.
Bagels
Many people enjoy using bagels to construct delicious sandwiches, perfect for any time of day: breakfast, lunch, or dinner. But they might not realize that bagels have a denser makeup than they might assume. Bagels and other hard breads could put you in danger of breaking a tooth when you bite into them.
A dentist can treat this tooth breakage with a dental crown, a ceramic cap that covers, protects, and restores a damaged tooth. But to save your time and your money, you should preserve the natural shape of your tooth by paying attention to the way you eat certain foods.
Hard Candy
Hard candy refers to a boiled sugary substance that solidifies as it cools to form a tasty treat. You are meant to suck on this candy until it dissolves in your mouth. But some people feel tempted to bite down on it before this point.
This creates a risk of cracking a tooth. So if you cannot resist biting hard candy, you may want to steer clear of this treat. If you do suffer a dental injury, call your dentist right away.
Corn on the Cob
Corn on the cob is a fun way to enjoy a popular starchy vegetable. But your teeth are not designed to bite into foods in this manner. Grating teeth against a hard corn cob could chip or injure your tooth.
Try to eat corn off of its cob when you can to protect your smile. But if you do eat corn on the cob, be careful as you bite and chew.