Food and Drink
Some quick, HARD facts about food and drink....
New science shows that the "acidity" of a drink is as bad as the sugar content... So now - diet drinks are considered just as bad as Mountain Dew for your teeth! (sorry folks)
Now this will be hard to get your mind, around but here goes: If you nurse one soda all morning at work and take two sips every 20 minutes, then you might as well drink a whole soda every 20 minutes as far as your teeth are concerned.
You see, any drink with "citric acid" in it (That's the stuff that makes it taste "tangy", and the second ingredient in almost ALL drinks that you get at a Quick Stop Foodmart.) will make your mouth so acidic that it is bathing your teeth with liquid that is the same acidity as vinegar! (Remember the old science fair project where you put an egg in soda for a week and the shell turns to rubber. That's what citric acid does to your teeth!)
It takes 20 minutes for the acidity of your saliva to go back to normal after you have any amount of sweet/tangy drink in your mouth. So even if you just have a sip, you drive the acidity back down to harmful levels. ** We see the same kind of cavities in the mouths of people who drink 6 sodas a day, as we do in in the people who drink one soda, but take a hit on it every 20 minutes for 2 hours.
In other words, in your mouth, it's not the volume of soda that passes through that counts, it's about the frequency that you take sips.
There are almost no "safe" drinks in our modern Quick Stop foodmarts, except PLAIN water or milk. "SmartWater" may be ok, but almost all the other drinks with the word "water" attached to them have additives that will damage teeth. (Sorry,.. "Vitamin Water" is on the no/no list folks.)
Gatorade and other sports drinks are not safe for your teeth at all. (Bummer.)
Even the iced teas, and the fruit juice based drinks are VERY acidic. (Rats!)
Hey... This hits home for me too!... I used to think I was so smart giving my kids the Nantucket Iced Teas or Juices,... But they are just as tough on your teeth. It turns out that the acidity in those drinks is nearly as low as vinegar.
Your saliva stops flowing when you sleep, so the last thing in your mouth before bed STAYS THERE all night. If that's routinely something sweet or acidic (ice cream, cereal, or juice, etc..) you are asking for big trouble. Best to have toothpaste as the last thing in your mouth before bed!
HERE'S THE BEST LINK ON OUR WEBSITE... THE LIST OF ACIDITY FOR COMMON DRINKS AND FOODS.
Find your favorites on this list and see how they compare to vinegar!...acidic food list.
One fifth of all one and two-year-old children drink more soda than milk. This is going to change bone growth, life-long metabolism, increase early onset of diabetes, and hundreds of other variables that will be problems for a life-time.
Today, teens drink three times more soda than 20 years ago, often replacing milk.
"Dental Sealants" only protect tooth-chewing surfaces of teeth. Decay from foods or drinks tends to occur where sealants can’t reach - in between the teeth.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR KIDS TEETH
Now that evidence shows that erosion of enamel happens with all acidic drinks it is clearly the responsibility of parents to monitor and limit kids’ access to fruit juices, performance drinks and soda. A new paradigm needs to evolve on the subject of teaching kids to drink and enjoy good cold water and milk. There is not much more that can be said about this. If you want your child to enjoy a healthy future, as a parent, you must make permanent changes in what you buy for your kids and what they consume with the spending money you give them.
BOTTOM-LINE: All the benefits that the current generation of young people have had from receiving Fluoride in public water supply and toothpastes can be completely reversed by daily consumption of juices, sports drinks and soda.