As if sugar isn’t enough to hurt your oral health, the high levels of acidity found in popular brands of sports and energy drinks have been confirmed to cause irreparable damage to your otherwise healthy set of teeth.
A related study that appeared in the journal General Dentistry report that popular brands of energy and sports drinks contain so much acid that tooth enamel are already compromised after 5 days of consistent exposure.
A huge chunk of the adolescent and the young adult population all around the globe drink at least one bottle of sports or energy drink every day. Lead author of the study Poonam Jain remarks “Young adults consume these drinks assuming that they will improve their sports performance and energy levels and that they are ‘better’ for them than soda.” What these drinkers don’t know is that these products bathe their teeth in sugary acid.
Read on as your Dentist In Sunshine Coast tells you how your favorite sports and energy drinks hurt your tooth enamel.
The study analyzed the titratable acidity, pH, and fluoride of 13 popular brands of sports drinks, and 9 popular brands of energy drinks. This was accomplished by submerging human tooth enamel samples in each of the different sports and energy drinks for no less than 15 minutes. After this, the researchers transferred and submerged the samples in a solution that makes for artificial saliva. This experiment process was repeated for four days within a five day period.
After only 5 days, tooth enamel damage was already visible, reports the researchers. They also note that energy drinks are so much worse than sports drinks, as these products inflict more than twice the damage.
Director of the Yale Prevention Center Dr. David Katz, remark “Bacteria convert sugar to acid, and it’s the acid bath that damages enamel, not the sugar directly. So by incorporating a high acid load in a drink, we are just cutting out the middleman on the way to tooth decay. These drinks are glorified sodas, with as much or more sugar.”
With the data at hand, it can be assumed that even a single drink is potentially detrimental to your dental health. If you are a chronic drinker of these products, if you are unable to give them up, the best piece of oral health advice would be to minimize your consumption. Another would be to rinse your mouth with water immediately after drinking any sports or energy drink.
Another effective way of optimizing your oral health is to refrain from brushing your teeth immediately after drinking or eating acidic products. The mouth takes about half an hour to normalize pH levels. Just to be sure, wait for at least an hour before you brush your teeth.
Dentist In Sunshine Coast: Smiles Nambour
There is no better way to ensure that your teeth remain to be free from any unwanted dental conditions than by visiting your local dentist regularly. Having long since provided the residents of Sunshine Coast with only personalized and high quality dental care, Smiles Nambouris the best that modern dentistry has to offer.
Protect your pearly whites against cavities! Schedule your first appointment with Smiles Nambour. Call us on (07) 5441 4438 or book online!