Diet

Fizzy and energy drinks

Avoid those horrid fizzy and energy drinks like the plague!  These are full of sugar and acid and destroy teeth.

Diet drinks I’m sorry are even worse – the manufacturers replace the sugar with additional acids to achieve the flavour.  eg Coke contain phosphoric acid, Diet Coke contains phosphoric acid and citric acid.  Double acid whammy.

Diet drinks are also changing the microbiota of our gut – The sugar replacements are super sweet.  This stimulates the bacteria to want more super sweet products and you will start seeking out more and more sweet stuff and food in general.  So rather than aiding in weight loss, diet drinks are contributing to weight gain.  Leave them alone for your teeth and your health’s sake.

But I’m addicted to energy drinks!

2 ways you can mange this.  I personally believe in the go cold turkey approach.  Yes it is going to be horrid, yes you will get headaches, yes you can blame me (happy to shoulder the blame).  But do it, it will be nasty for about 2 weeks and then you will be fine, promise.

The other way is to quietly cut down.  This gives too much wiggle room in my opinion, just get on with it, suck it up and quit.

Save yourself a fortune on drinks and dentistry costs and give them up.

If you are going to insist on drinking energy drinks please do it in the best way possible.  Do not sip on these through the day.  Every time we eat or drink it takes our body and saliva 2 hours to neutralise the acid attack.  If you are sipping on sugary drinks through the day your teeth are bathing in acid and sugar – and you will have problems – lots of expensive dental problems.

So scull it down and follow it with a drink of water.  Do this until you can give them up.

I’ve attached some nice pictures here of what sugary and energy drinks do to teeth if you wish to look.  Warning – graphic images.

 

Water

Water wonderful water.  Drink plenty of water – when the body is dehydrated the first thing the body stops producing is saliva.  Saliva is a natural protective agent for our teeth being antibacterial.  We want plenty of saliva.

Drinking plenty of water also helps remove food debris.

Snacking

As above – avoid snacking, by this I mean constantly grazing out of the fridge, mindlessly eating while watching TV or studying.  As above – it takes 2 hours for our saliva to neutralise the acid attack after eating, so constant eating leads to dental decay and gum disease.

See your dentist regularly

Generally people should see the dentist 6 monthly or annually.  If your mouth is clean and healthy, once yearly is usually enough.

It is false economy to avoid the dentist.  Small early decay and gum disease can be identified and even reversed saving you significant money in the long run.  If you haven’t been in the last year book an appointment now.

 

Questions?

Feel free to send any dental related questions – I’m happy to answer them.

 

Some great celebrity smiles – wonder if they use bamboo toothbrushes?