Your teeth endure wear and tear when you chew and bite on a regular basis. Ordinarily, your teeth can do this without issue. But hard food items could generate pressure when you bite down which may cause teeth to chip, crack, or fracture.
This type of dental injury will require urgent attention from your dentist. To prevent this dental emergency, you should know what types of foods could lead to this accident. Read on to find four foods that pose a risk of breaking your teeth if you are not careful.
4 Foods That May Cause Tooth Breakage
Popcorn
Popcorn is a fun snack that you can enjoy from the comfort of your home or out at a movie theater. But you might not notice that the light, fluffy texture can hide hard unpopped kernels. If you bite down on one of these kernels, your tooth might break under the pressure.
Sometimes this dental injury will leave you in pain. Even if it does not seem to hurt, you should let your dentist know about this tooth breakage. They will want to examine the damage and provide treatment to restore its health and shape.
Bagels
Many people use bagels to construct delicious sandwiches for any time of day. They might not realize that bagels and other hard bread are denser than they may assume. Biting into a bagel will exert more pressure on your smile than you would guess, and you could break a tooth.
Be careful when you eat bagels and do not hesitate to call your dentist if you do suffer tooth breakage. The dentist can give you a dental crown to cover the injured tooth, restoring its appearance as well as keeping it safe from further dental harm.
Hard Candy
Hard candy refers to a sweet treat made from boiling sugar into a liquid that solidifies into fun shapes as it cools. It is designed to be sucked until it dissolves so that you can enjoy the sweet flavor. But it can be tempting to bite down on this candy before you should. Trying to chew hard candy can severely hurt your teeth.
If you cannot resist biting hard candy, you should limit or avoid them in your diet. Try another snack if you crave something sweet. Sugar can be highly harmful to your dental health anyway.
Corn on the Cob
Corn on the cob is fun to eat a starchy vegetable. But our teeth are not made to bite into a cob. The grating against the hard cob can cause a tooth to fracture. Try enjoying corn off of the cob.
If you cannot avoid eating corn this way, be very careful with the bites that you take. Do not ignore any damage you sustain to your teeth when eating. The injuries will worsen and put your smile at risk of irreversible structural concerns. Keep your smile safe by paying attention to what you eat.