Sugar-free drinks not as healthy for your teeth as you think

Sugar-free drinks not as healthy for your teeth as you think

If you have substituted sugared drinks with unsweetened ones for the sake of your teeth, well, you have not really done the right thing. A new study has warned that not only do sweetened drinks cause damage to teeth, but so do sugar-free ones.  They have a reputation for causing damage to tooth enamel.

The researchers had, for the study, examined 23 different types of soft drinks as well as sports drinks. After running tests in the lab, they found that drinks that have acidic additives and low pH levels can easily damage teeth health significantly. Acidic additives in the drinks can affect enamel of the tooth irrespective of whether the drink is sweetened or sugar-free.

The study had examined two factors to see how sugared drinks affected tooth. They were:

·         Dental enamel softening

·         Tooth surface loss

They noted that almost all drinks, both sugar as well as non-sugar ones caused softening of enamel by 30-50 percent. The researchers were surprised to see that there wasn’t any different between effects of sugar-containing as well as sugar-free drinks. The CEO of the Oral Health CRC, Eric Reynolds, said that a lot of people think that sugar intake is the only cause for tooth damage, forgetting that while sugar-free drinks are in fact, safe and perhaps do reduce tooth damage, the mix of chemicals and acids in other foods and drinks can cause equal damage.

Reynolds further added that “Dental erosion occurs when acid dissolves the hard tissues of the tooth. In its early stages erosion strips away the surface layers of tooth enamel. If it progresses to an advanced stage it can expose the soft pulp inside the tooth”. Dental erosion can be controlled by dental treatments under the care of a professional.

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