Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Chewing ice is not great for the teeth

So I was speaking to some friends on the phone last night and they told me their dirty dental secret-they chew ice. This lovely family of three; mom, dad and 2.5 year old daughter chew ice each night after dinner. Now I don't want to get up on my dental high horse, but could you have any worse dental habit? I gave the spiel about the risks and how long term habits like this can put the teeth at risk of fracture-they were not buying it, they enjoy it and will continue chewing ice. What was a dentist to do? Grin and bear it, they are my friends and its their choice to continue ice chewing, I just hope I won't be seeing them for an emergency's for a fractured teeth cause it is going to be hard for me not to say anything about the ice chewing ritual :)

I came across some interesting dental articles today,

Taming Toddler Tooth Decay
http://www.simplestepsdental.com/SS/ihtSS/r.WSIHW000/st.32571/t.32571/pr.3/d.dmtNewsContent/c.785617.html

Dental Mercury
http://www.simplestepsdental.com/SS/ihtSS/r.WSIHW000/st.32571/t.32571/pr.3/d.dmtNewsContent/c.786476.html
This is a very pertinent article considering the fact Scandinavia has just taken measures to ban dental amalgam.

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