Dental Erosion: Sugar, Acidity, Sports Drinks and Your Teeth
December 2015
By: Skygate Dental
Leading an active life-style and participating in sports involves staying properly hydrated. The question is what type of drink should you choose? Like most of us taste and convenience are paramount; however, a closer look at many popular sport drinks will reveal two important factors; one the sugar content and two the acidity of the drink. These factors are very important when it comes to your dental health.
Decay and Erosion
Staying fit and healthy physically is just as important as a beautiful healthy smile! Sport drinks can have very high sugar content. It is this sugar, which is the perfect substrate for the bacteria in our mouth to produce, holes or decay. On top of this during exercise you will lose fluids and have a decreased salivary flow to protect your teeth; combine this with a highly acidic (low pH) sport drinks and the effect is two fold.1 It is this sugar and acidity, which can permanent damage your teeth.
Protecting Your Teeth And Staying Hydrated
To protect your teeth during sport there are a number of tips to consider. First, would be to avoid or limit constant sipping of sports drinks. If you are still wishing to consumer sports drinks, then after consumption consider rinsing your mouth out with water to help neutralize or minimize the effect of both the sugar and acid. Another option would be to consider non-acidic alternatives or using water as the replacement of choice.
References
- N.J. Cochrane, Y. Yuan, G.D. Walker, P. Shen, C.H. Chang, C. Reynolds, E.C. Reynolds, Erosive potential of sports