Frozen bears are all the rage TikTokwith hundreds of videos flooding user feeds of people biting into cold, colorful sweets – but a dental nurse said News week the trend could be harmful.

One video that has gone particularly viral is Kat Chao’s contribution to this trend, which received nearly 45 million views and 3.8 million likes in just one week.

Chao’s video, on his channel @katchaomeow, follows roughly the same pattern as the others. It starts with a crunchy bite into some large frozen gummy bears, then she demonstrates how to make them.

First, she pours soda into a container. Chao uses 7up, but other versions have used Sprite, cola, Japanese cider, root beer and even vodka.

Gummy bears – and similar gummy candies – are added to the drink, then put in the refrigerator overnight, during which time they swell, absorbing liquid until they are much larger and softer than before .

These slippery candies are then put in the freezer for three hours or more, after which the frozen gummy bears are ready to try.

It’s the sound of the biting that seems to be the focal point of it all, icy but slightly mellow.

One of the commenters on Chao’s video said, “My sensitive teeth could never do it” — and nearly 27,000 people on the app liked the comment in agreement.

But that cold, crisp, creamy bite seems to be a big part of why the trend took off; as well as because it is relatively easy to try a sweet, colorful and inexpensive food.

Many participants do ASMR content. ASMR stands for “autonomous sensory meridian response” and refers to a tingling sensation that some people feel when listening to certain sounds.

Food ASMR videos focus on mouth sounds, where content creators move closer to their microphones to record chewing sounds with vivid clarity.

Some people enjoy these sounds, and the very particular sound of people eating these frozen bears seems to trigger an ASMR reaction for them.

Content creators who tried this trend admitted that the taste was a bit disappointing.

However, dental nurse Karen Coates said News week that frozen candy seemed “pretty dangerous” for dental health.

“The sugar content is concerning,” she said. “If you use a high-fat drink and then add candy to it, it’s just sugar on top of sugar.

“You’d be better off making your own ice cream from diluted cordial if you wanted something sweet and icy.”

Coates said there might be five or six teaspoons of sugar in a can of soda, and people trying the trend might consume a similar amount of gummy bears.

“As an adult, the maximum amount of sugar you should consume per day is around seven teaspoons,” she said. “In this trend, you will very quickly exaggerate the amount of sugar you should be consuming.”

And Coates echoed commenters’ concerns about tooth sensitivity, saying it could cause pain in some people.

“If it’s too hard, (candies) could fracture teeth or even damage gums, causing problems,” she said.

Coates said News week that she wouldn’t try the trend herself and said that if she wanted something cold, she would choose something with less sugar, natural sugars or fruit.

“At the end of the day, these are really empty calories and have no nutritional value,” Coates said. “This could potentially cause tooth decay.”

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