There you are, just sitting and enjoying your snack or meal, when all of a sudden you hear a crack and your tooth doesn’t feel so good. We sincerely hope this never happens to you, but it is possible for people to crack their teeth while eating some everyday foods. Here are five of the most common foods that lead to cracked teeth:
1. Hard Candy
There’s no shortage of candies out there and lots of them fall into the hard candy category. Lollipops, jawbreakers, and Jolly Ranchers are just a couple, and we bet you can think of a few more too. When you indulge in one of these sweets, resist the temptation to chew and bite them since they can take a serious toll on your teeth.
2. Popcorn
We’re not talking about savory, buttery, fluffy popcorn. We’re talking about those tiny, hard unpopped kernels. Next time you grab a handful of popcorn, make sure you’re not accidentally about to bite down on one of those little guys because they are hard on your teeth.
Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay
3. Shelled Nuts & Seeds
While your teeth are designed to help you break down the food you eat, you shouldn’t be using them as a tool to open things—even if those things are healthy nuts and seeds. The hard outer shell of pistachios, sunflower seeds, and the like could hurt the outer surface of your teeth.
4. Olives
It’s tempting to dig into a bowl of olives and pop one after another in your mouth. Instead, slow down a bit so that you don’t unintentionally chomp down into their hard pits and crack a tooth. That’s a surprise you don’t want!
5. Ice
Plenty of people enjoy chewing on ice to cool down, or simply because there’s some in their cold drink. But chunky ice is no friend to your teeth, so avoid biting down on it and just suck on the cubes instead.