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Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

dbskeptic.com

51–60 of 108 posts

Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#51
As a child, my dentist also warned me about Mountain Dew and gave a specific reason - the presence of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), used as a stabilizer.

His theory was that it would chelate the calcium out of your tooth enamel.

Sounds like a bit of dentist lore that gets passed around. Maybe because they use EDTA during root canals to prep the area.

Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#52
post #49
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or how about experimental science? Get some human teeth (probably not difficult or expensive for a dentist), weigh them, plunk them in each liquid, let them sit for a week, see which ones lost the most mass. Obviously scientific rigor would require several experiments to smooth out the variances in individual tooth quality and original composition, but it seems like that would come to a more definitive conclusion.

I think the presence of saliva has a major effect on inhibiting tooth decay. I'm not sure how applicable in vitro experiments would be.

It would give us a new hypothesis to test, and if it turns out to be wrong, it would tell us a lot about saliva, don't you think?

Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#53
post #32
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 wi…

Juice is for most intents and purposes no healthier dan soda. It's mostly sugar and acid. The fact that said sugar and acid used to reside in a piece of fruit makes no difference at all. If you want the health benefits of fruit, eat a piece of fruit.

Most juice is so heavily processed it should be labelled as soda.

Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#54
post #51

As a child, my dentist also warned me about Mountain Dew and gave a specific reason - the presence of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), used as a stabilizer. His theory was that it would chelate the calcium out of your tooth enamel. Sounds like a bit of dentist lore that gets passed around. Maybe because they use EDTA during root canals to prep the area.

EDTA is in many drinks and foods, not just Mountain Dew.

Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#55
post #45

I wish he would have provided more explanation behind the dentist's algorithm. Here's an actual study measuring enamel loss, which seems much more definitive: http://faculty.philau.edu/ashleyj/General%20Dentistry%20Arti... Perhaps the most important snippet: Regression analysis indicated no correlation between enamel dissolution and beverage pH (r = 0.477, p > 0.05); in addition, the enamel dissolution showed no diff…

Or how about experimental science? Get some human teeth (probably not difficult or expensive for a dentist), weigh them, plunk them in each liquid, let them sit for a week, see which ones lost the most mass. Obviously scientific rigor would require several experiments to smooth out the variances in individual tooth quality and original composition, but it seems like that would come to a more definitive conclusion.

Teeth continuously remineralize in living humans, so this experiment wouldn't tell us anything useful.

Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#56
So a cookie should be much worse than any sugary drink.

Basically, if you eat more than 0 sweets per day, it seems ridiculous to worry about sugary drinks.

If you get a raspberry seed stuck between your teeth, it should be much worse than a sugary drink.

Is there some coating effect I'm missing?

Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 som…

I 100% agree. Actually I have done almost exactly that, switched to tea, or ice tea. I'm not completely off the sugary drinks, but I'll drink things like Honest Tea with a lot less sugar than Coke, or just plain Tea. The thing I'm actually most worried about is pancreatic cancer. I'm not even sure if there's a link between that and soft drinks, but I read one study where having 2-3 soft drinks a week doubled your ris…

I take regular tap water, make it half tap half coke. Works for me.

Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#59
post #45

I wish he would have provided more explanation behind the dentist's algorithm. Here's an actual study measuring enamel loss, which seems much more definitive: http://faculty.philau.edu/ashleyj/General%20Dentistry%20Arti... Perhaps the most important snippet: Regression analysis indicated no correlation between enamel dissolution and beverage pH (r = 0.477, p > 0.05); in addition, the enamel dissolution showed no diff…

Or how about experimental science? Get some human teeth (probably not difficult or expensive for a dentist), weigh them, plunk them in each liquid, let them sit for a week, see which ones lost the most mass. Obviously scientific rigor would require several experiments to smooth out the variances in individual tooth quality and original composition, but it seems like that would come to a more definitive conclusion.

A human tooth submerged in Pepsi will actually dissolve completely in less than a week.

Re: Sugar, acid and teeth (2009)

#60
post #59
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or how about experimental science? Get some human teeth (probably not difficult or expensive for a dentist), weigh them, plunk them in each liquid, let them sit for a week, see which ones lost the most mass. Obviously scientific rigor would require several experiments to smooth out the variances in individual tooth quality and original composition, but it seems like that would come to a more definitive conclusion.

A human tooth submerged in Pepsi will actually dissolve completely in less than a week.

Is that true? I remember Mythbusters disproving the myth that it would dissolve a tooth overnight.

Perhaps a week is too much time.

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