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Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

dbskeptic.com

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Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#11

Post by bmelton »

casca wrote: post #5

Interesting, but their choice of weighting of sugar and pH is not based on any evidence. Also, would the amount of time that the drink is in contact with your teeth not have an impact? Perhaps wine would have more of an impact because you might keep it in your mouth longer, offset by the small likelihood you you drinking as much of it?

Similarly, I read something recently (no link, sorry) that stated something like the following (poorly paraphrased):

  Juice is fine to drink as it's generally healthy,
  but if you're going to drink it, do so quickly 
  instead of sipping on it for long periods.
The premise being exactly what you surmised, that chugging a small glass of OJ is much better for your teeth than sipping it and putting your teeth into contact with it for so much longer.

Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#12

Post by jbigelow76 »

nealabq wrote: post #9

One hears that Bulimia and certain drug addictions (Crack, Meth) are very bad for your teeth. Bulimia because of the strong acid, and drugs because they interfere with the mouth's self-cleaning instinct. I'd guess the best teeth live in a mouth with: 1. Active high-volume saliva glands 2. A population of healthy bacteria How do you encourage that?

How about encourage them not to become crack heads or bulimics in the first place? It's a strategy that probably has benefits beyond mere dental health.

Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#13

Post by cmatteri »

jws wrote: post #2

Where "worst" is defined by a function of pH and sugar content pulled out of the air by a dentist.

Their function 10^(5.5-pH) * (mg/cl sugar + 1) does seem to imply that sugar and acidity have a synergistic effect, where the +1 in the sugar term is a hack to keep the result from being 0 if the sugar is 0. This doesn't make sense, as a modest increase in sugar, say from 0 to 1 would double the result regardless of the pH.

Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#14

Post by hnriot »

This should not be so much surprise to anyone really. It's pretty widely known that sugar and acids are bad for your teeth. The degree to which any drink with these contributes to dental damage is probably more complicated but everyone knows that its best to drink water. Not only will it not ruin your teeth but it will also not make you fat, like sodas and juice boxes.

Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#15

Post by steve8918 »

I have deep grooves in my teeth right above my gums on both sides of my mouth from drinking 3-6 cokes a day for 10+ years. For some reason, I have a habit of swishing the drinks on the bottom of my mouth and I think this is the reason why my teeth are so jacked up. In the past year, I've largely stopped drinking Coke, partly because of this, and because of the other health problems associated with drinking so much soft drinks. I've switched to water and have a sugary drink maybe once or twice a week.

Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#16

Post by brianbreslin »

My uncle who is a dentist told me i got loads of cavities from gatorade. His rationale aside from the high sugar content was that because I was exercising, my mouth was drying out w/the gatorade residue in it. So the sugars eat away at your teeth faster. So there is that factor to weigh in as well (how your mouth is reacting at the time of the liquid consumption, or post consumption residue).

Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#18

Post by peterwwillis »

steve8918 wrote: post #15

I have deep grooves in my teeth right above my gums on both sides of my mouth from drinking 3-6 cokes a day for 10+ years. For some reason, I have a habit of swishing the drinks on the bottom of my mouth and I think this is the reason why my teeth are so jacked up. In the past year, I've largely stopped drinking Coke, partly because of this, and because of the other health problems associated with drinking so much so…

Besides being bad for your teeth it's a nightmare on your body. That insulin dump from the onslaught of sugar will make you much more likely to develop diabetes, and some studies have shown a long-term metabolic effect where your body prefers sugars for energy instead of fats. That and the empty calories will lop-side your diet and make it harder to lose weight or gain muscle.

There are lots of ways you can drink something tasty and not have such a huge impact on your body. Sometimes i'll buy a two-liter of green tea ginger ale or cranberry juice, and make a 50/50 or 25/75 mix of the drink and tap water.

You can also just cold-brew tea or coffee and mix in a little sweetener or other flavor to change it up. It's cheaper than soda and (after you stop drinking soda every day) tastes much better because you're not getting hit over the head with truckloads of sugars. Ask a European about how sweet all our foods and drinks are.

Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#19

Post by scott_s »

skylan_q wrote: post #7
dasil003 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know the dentist pulled it out of thin air? A dentist would seem to have a decent likelihood of being familiar with the science.

If the dentist is being scientific, it's up to him to back up his claims about sugar and acid being the most (or only) important indicators for what's bad for teeth. EDIT: For example, there's been some interesting work discussed here: http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.ca/2009/03/reversing-tooth...

If you do some googling, it's commonly accepted that both sugar and acid are bad for your teeth, with plenty of justification. Some of the reasons are even covered in the article.

You're correct in that their classification of "worst" only applies if sugar and acidity are the most important factors. But they're clearly a large factor in tooth decay, so measuring the contents of various liquids and comparing them to each other is instructive.

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