Soft drinks have been around for about 100 years. They taste good, they provide a refreshing way to quench your thirst, and they pair really well with pizza, hamburgers, and popcorn. However, as delicious as they taste, they can be linked to numerous health problems such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. Did you know that soft drinks can wreak havoc on your smile, too?
Soda, coke, pop, soft drinks – however you say it, they are all highly acidic and sugary beverages. Every time you take a sip of a soft drink, the oral bacteria inside your mouth feed on the sugars. As bacteria “feed,” they create acids. Combined with the acidic content that soft drinks already contain, you essentially give your mouth an acid bath with every drink. The acids in soft drinks can linger on your teeth for around 20 minutes. With repeated sips and frequent indulgence in soft drinks, the tooth enamel becomes weakened and leads to cavities and tooth decay.
Well, what about diet sodas? They can’t be as bad since they don’t contain sugar, right? Wrong. Even though diet soft drinks do not contain sugar, they still contain multiple acids and low pH values. The risk of dental erosion and tooth decay remain just as high by drinking diet sodas as it does by drinking regular soft drinks.
Prevent Damage with One Single Beverage
The best way to prevent damage to your teeth and smile is to stop drinking soft drinks and other sugary beverages and replace them with water. Water is the most abundant resource on planet Earth. It contains no harmful ingredients, no calories, and it provides benefits to your entire body. It is recommended that people drink their weight in ounces of water every day. Therefore, if you weigh 150 pounds, you should make it your goal to drink 150 ounces of water each day.
If you do choose to indulge in a sugary beverage, you need to make a habit of rinsing your mouth with water after you finish drinking. Rinsing with water will help wash away much of the sugary particles and acids that remain on your teeth.
At The Smile Lounge, we want to partner with you in your oral health. Making water your beverage of choice will benefit your smile, weight, skin, and overall health. Contact us today to learn more.
Posted on Behalf of The Smile Lounge
