The Worst Drinks for Your Teeth
Everyone knows that certain foods are bad for your teeth, especially hard, sticky candy and sugary foods that get stuck between your teeth, such as corn. What often gets overlooked, however, is that some beverages can be worse for your teeth than any food—and people often indulge in them far more frequently than candy!
Drinks can harm our oral health in a couple of different ways. Many include a lot of sugar, which can cause cavities and feed bacteria in our mouths. Others are highly acidic, which weakens our tooth enamel. Many popular drinks are both sugary and acidic, making them doubly dangerous. Below are the five worst drinks for your teeth. It’s likely that you sip on one of these at least once a day. Resist the urge! At the end of the list, we’ll provide some alternative options and tips for reducing the harm these beverages do to our teeth!
No beverage is more likely to stain your teeth than coffee! This bitter favorite is highly acidic, making it bad for tooth enamel, and it’s often loaded down with sugar, too. Every cup you drink could potentially increase the amount of time you spend at our dentist’s office in the Heights!
Tea isn’t much better than coffee when it comes to staining your teeth. It’s highly acidic, too, and many people prefer to drink it with sugar—sweet tea is especially popular in the Houston summer! Unsweet tea is actually good for your teeth, because it has naturally occurring fluoride. Its only downside is the staining!
- Energy Drinks
Energy drinks such as Monster and Red Bull, as well as sports drinks such as Gatorade, contain high amounts of sugar and acidity. As a rule of thumb, any drink that stains your teeth blue isn’t good for you!
- Soda Pop
Soda is terrible for your teeth for the same reasons as energy drinks. It’s loaded with sugar and typically contains very high acidity—Coca-Cola, in fact, is one of the most acidic beverages in existence. Your teeth might be better off if you drank a can of candy, instead!
- Fruit Juice
Did you know that much of the fruit juice sold at the grocery store has sugar added? It may claim to be all-natural, but many of these juices contain as much sugar as soda. Citric fruit juices, such as orange and grapefruit juice, are especially acidic, making them a daily threat to your tooth enamel.
There are many wonderful bars in the Heights, but there’s more than one reason to indulge only rarely in alcohol. Wine, in particular, is highly acidic and stains your teeth. Most alcoholic beverages contain plenty of sugar. Some, such as rum, are actually made from sugar! Oral bacteria love them. Alcohol also dramatically increases your risk of oral cancer.
Looking for a beverage that’s good for your teeth? Mom knew best—Have a glass of milk! The calcium in milk helps keep your teeth and bones strong. Water is also a great choice, especially tap water, which is fluoridated and helps to protect teeth. Clear teas and fresh-squeezed fruit juice are preferable to darker, more sugary drinks, and if you simply must have a soda, natural root beer is your least-harmful choice.
To mitigate the damage to your teeth caused by your favorite drinks, brush and floss every single day! Seriously, you can’t brush and floss too much. Rinsing your mouth out with water after you drink sugary, acidic beverage is a good idea, too. To assess and repair the damage done to your teeth by these drinks, book an appointment today with Discover Dental! We’ll put you on the path to perfect oral health.