Sometimes when I go out to eat, I splurge. I bring decaf coffee and a plate of ice cream. However, I use the ice cream as a pre-sweetened “cream” so that the coffee cools / creme / sweetens everything at the same time. I don’t eat ice cream while drinking my hot drink.
Washing teeth in hot liquids quickly raises the temperature of the exposed tooth. Like glass, tooth enamel expands slightly. Cold, like ice water or ice cream, will cause the nail polish to shrink even faster. This creates microfractures in the enamel that are called “fashion lines” in dentistry. With a strong light directed indirectly to the teeth, and a small dental mouth mirror, these small fractures in the enamel appear. Tea and coffee will stain them, making them more apparent to the naked eye.
Kyle had several silver fillings. I noticed that the fillings were starting to chip around the edges where the silver met the tooth and that her teeth had small fine fractures, or crazy lines, radiating from the fillings. “Kyle,” I said, “do you drink something hot and eat something cold at the same time, like coffee and ice cream?” He looked at me incredulously, like I’d been spying on him.
“Yes because?” I explained heat / cold expansion / contraction and how his fillings expand and contract at a different rate than enamel, with each one starting to press against each other and separate again and again with the rapid change in temperature. -and break. I gently suggested that she have coffee or ice cream, but not both at the same time. Unless, of course, they melt into each other, like me.
Do teeth eventually break?
They could, depending on what you eat regularly, like hard corn nuts, corn kernels at the bottom of the popcorn bucket, or ice. Yes, chewing on ice will break your teeth. Ice is harder than enamel. Also, the size, age, type, and location of your fillings will be a factor. If you grind your teeth at night, the way they fit, or not, and if you use them as tools to open things (a “No-No”) can contribute to their breakage.
It is best to replace old silver fillings with white filling material if the edges are chipping or deteriorating and the tooth has stain lines. The white material will adhere to the polish and help hold it together.
It is also advisable to avoid ice water when eating a hot meal. Just say ‘. * smile *
