How Energy Drinks affect your Teeth

If you’ve decided to upgrade your coffee to something with a complex group of minerals and vitamins, you’ve probably tried an energy drink to maintain the day’s momentum. What is now becoming more apparent however is how much enamel you could be damaging via energy drinks!

Researcher Poonam Jain, BDS, MPH, associate professor and director of community dentistry at the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine conducted a study that suggests energy drinks damage tooth enamel and can increase the risk of cavities.

It is not known yet at what percentage of enamel loss would start to raise any nerve reaction to damage occurring, but the study had shown that sports drinks such as Gatorade, Powerade and Propel grape can lower your enamel my 1.5% while carbonated energy drinks can lower enamel over 3%! Which means over time this can be a risk factor.

If energy drink consumption is something unavoidable in your day-to-day routine, there is a way to slightly reduce the damage with the accompaniment of water. Drinking water right after having a drink of your beverage of choice could help reduce the likelihood of having enamel damage and cavity risk.

Avoiding these drinks all together is another great way to slow the degradation of your tooth enamel. Cutting out most sugar-heavy drinks albeit hard as that can be at times will greatly help shift in reducing acid damages.

The same damaging acids in energy drinks can, however, be found in foods that you may commonly eat so it just overall good health to be aware of what your diet consists of as there are many variables besides energy drinks that can affect your enamel in a negative way. Drinking water after meals can help reduce the acids, but also help digestion!

Another suggestion was to dilute your energy drink of choice in water to help reduce the condensing of acids in one mouthful. Adding a few ice cubes can slowly ease you into this process if you aren’t fond of the taste quite yet.

According to Dr. Jain, your mouth also requires about 30 minutes to return to its normal pH level. So brushing your teeth is best to do after a half hour to reduce the risk of spreading around the acids to other areas of your mouth.

To further your preventive care and seek professional guidance on how to not only maintain proper oral health but to also learn how to alleviate and avoid enamel damage, consider visiting a Fort McMurray Dentist such as the great people at Stoneycreek Village Dental to set up a professional evaluation of your dental needs. There is a lot you can do to prevent cavities and enamel loss, but a professional from Stoneycreek Village Dental will set you on the right path to great oral health!

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