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Here’s a little something to chew on
Published April 19, 2009
Though the last week has been cool and breezy, the wet pillow of coastal Texas summer is stealthily approaching to smother us. And as it approaches, people like me will be doing pretty much anything we can think of to stay cool. The season of ice chewing, when slurred speech caused by ice-numbed cheeks reaches epidemic proportions, is coming for us.
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t chew the ice in my drinks. But for some people, it’s less an unthinking habit than a hobby. There is a whole online community of ice chewers. At a forum called icechewing. iswhaticrave.com, there are recommendations about where to find the best ice, favorite textures and even a couple of recipes. I always thought the universal recipe for ice was water plus freezing temperatures, but apparently it goes beyond that. One poster suggested making Perrier ice cubes, which is supposed to lend the ice a soft, pleasantly chewy texture. There’s something to add to the list of Things I’d Never Have Thought Of.
Without wishing to cast stones, I have to say that some posters sound a wee bit … different. Like the person who eats a gallon or more of crushed ice a day. Or the one who put a bucket outside during a snowstorm to catch fresh snow for eating. Or the one who got upset when the fresh snow they were planning to eat was swept off their car by a well-meaning neighbor.
Listen, I chew ice; there’s never an ice cube left behind from any cold beverage I drink, but nothing is going into my mouth that was first scraped off my car.
Indeed, in some cases, ice chewing might indicate an underlying emotional or physical issue, according to The Mayo Clinic’s Web site, www.mayoclinic.com. It could indicate stress or other emotional problems, and some people with iron deficiency anemia will crave and chew ice.
“It’s not known why some people with iron deficiency anemia crave and chew ice,” the Web site says. Some research has suggested it might be because of ice’s pain-relieving properties, since some people with anemia experience tongue pain and inflammation. Ice also might have a new and better taste to people who are iron deficient, the site reports.
That may be, but sometimes I think ice chewing is just ice chewing. Speaking personally, if I ever devoted any introspection to why I chew ice, I’d suspect it’s because ice is cold and thirst-quenching and I live in Texas, where it’s hot. On occasion, one of those people who just has to take the joy out of even life’s smallest pleasures has warned me that I shouldn’t chew ice because it’s bad for the teeth. But perhaps that’s not universally true.
In an article for the Boston Globe, Dr. Thomas Kilgore, a professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery at Boston University School of Dental Medicine, is quoted as saying chewing ice is more problematic if a person has fillings. Because teeth can be structurally weakened by fillings, he explained, they become more susceptible to damage from chewing on a hard substance like ice.
But I have no fillings. So there, haters. I shall continue my moderate ice chewing ways with an easy mind. Anything to make the coming summer swelter a bit more bearable.
Mary Openshaw is a features writer for The Facts. Contact her at (979) 237-0155.
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