Many people turn to diet soda as a seemingly healthier alternative to regular soda, often thinking they're making a better choice for their teeth. Patients at Sunrise Dental in Peoria often ask whether switching to diet soda would be better for their teeth. However, the reality is more complex. While diet soda eliminates sugar, a major culprit in tooth decay, it introduces other factors that can be equally detrimental to your oral health. This article explores the impact of diet soda on your teeth enamel, debunking common misconceptions and providing practical tips to protect your smile.
The Acidity Factor: A Hidden Danger
The main culprit in diet sodas that leads to decay is the acid content. Diet sodas and other sugar-free drinks are usually highly acidic, which weakens the enamel on your teeth and makes them more susceptible to cavities and dental erosion. Most carbonated beverages contain acid, which is a culprit in causing tooth decay. You might be surprised to learn that diet sodas are often highly acidic, leading to high levels of acid in your saliva. Just like acid from plaque, acidic beverages erode the enamel that protects your teeth.
Understanding Enamel Erosion
Enamel erosion is a gradual process where the hard outer layer of your teeth, the enamel, is worn away by acids. This protective shield is essential for preventing tooth decay, sensitivity, and discoloration. Once enamel wears away, it doesn’t just grow back. Unfortunately, once the enamel is gone, it's gone for good, and you may need fillings or crowns to help protect the tooth again.
The Role of Acids in Diet Soda
Diet Coke has a low pH level, meaning it’s highly acidic. Diet sodas contain phosphoric acid, citric acid, and tartaric acid, which contribute to their high acidity. These ingredients bond with calcium, which weakens your teeth and leaves behind a chalky sensation or even tooth sensitivity. Additionally, while the sugar in regular soda and other sweet drinks forms harmful acid in your mouth, diet or sugar-free beverages also contain phosphoric acid, the same found in regular, sugary soda. Citric acid and tartaric acid are just some of the additional ingredients in diet drinks and fruit juices that can damage teeth.
Sugar vs. Acid: A Comparison
Sugary drinks cause tooth decay-it’s a well known fact. However, sugar doesn’t cause cavities by itself. Sugar causes tooth decay by feeding the bacteria that produce plaque. Cavity-causing bacteria love to eat sugar. The more sugar that bacteria can eat, the more they will thrive. As they grow they build sticky colonies of plaque that help them adhere to your teeth. Most diet sodas replace sugar with an artificial sweetener. Although artificial sweeteners do not contribute to tooth decay in the same way as sugar, that does not make diet sodas better for your teeth.
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The Impact of Sugar in Regular Soda
Regular soda is high in sugar - a 12 ounce can contains roughly ten teaspoons of sugar - and sugar feeds the decay-causing bacteria in the mouth. Sugary drinks cause tooth decay because sugar feeds the bacteria that produce plaque. These bacteria produce acids that attack the enamel, leading to cavities.
The Acidic Nature of Diet Soda
Diet sodas are often highly acidic, leading to high levels of acid in your saliva. Just like acid from plaque, acidic beverages erode the enamel that protects your teeth. Eventually, enamel erosion will expose the dentin inside your teeth, causing sensitivity and pain. Exposed dentin makes your teeth even more susceptible to cavities and decay.
Additional Factors: Caffeine and Artificial Sweeteners
Diet sodas and energy drinks can also be bad for your teeth if they contain caffeine. Drinking caffeinated beverages dehydrates your mouth and reduces your saliva production. Saliva plays an important role in helping to protect your teeth and gums. It washes away food debris and fights cavity-causing bacteria by preventing acid attacks. Minerals in your saliva also help to strengthen and rebuild tooth enamel; without adequate saliva, your teeth are more susceptible to damage. Some studies have shown that the effects of diet soda are also caused by artificial sweeteners. The sweeteners can make the body feel more hungry and result in more food cravings. Valley Oak Dental Group.
The Role of Caffeine
Caffeine will often cause dry mouth. Extended periods of dry mouth can cause a lot of dental issues. Without a proper saliva flow, the bacteria in your mouth remains on your teeth and gums. An increase in bacteria could lead to inflamed gums and the eventual formation of gum disease like gingivitis. Without proper treatment, infections could grow and lead to serious problems for your teeth.
Artificial Sweeteners: A Double-Edged Sword
Manufacturers use artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, or stevia to mimic the taste of sugar. It tastes sweet but contains no sugar, which appeals to those looking to reduce calorie intake. Despite its low-calorie content, diet soda contains various chemicals and additives. These ingredients contribute to its taste and appearance. However, they can also have effects on your oral health.
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Scientific Evidence: Studies and Findings
Studies carried out in the Oral Health CRC on sugar-free beverages, sugar-free confectionery, and sports drinks demonstrated that "many of these products contained multiple acids and had low pH values." Essentially, many people think that switching from regular to diet soda will keep their teeth healthy. Adult dietary and dental data were analyzed from the 2003-2004 cycle of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Erosion was measured with a modified tooth wear index and was analyzed as a dichotomous variable. Cluster analysis was performed, and the cluster number was based on having a separate diet drink cluster and the R2 values. Most of the population (80%) had some form of dental erosive lesions. When compared with the total sample, people with erosion were more likely to be male (52.5%) and older. People with no erosive lesions were younger (42.3%) and non-Hispanic Black (21.2%). Cluster analysis resulted in 4 distinct clusters: high water, high diet drinks, high coffee/tea, and high soda. The respective percentage of individuals in each cluster who had erosion was 78.9%, 85%, 83.9%, and 76.2%, where the "high diet drinks" cluster showed the highest erosion (P = 0.28). High diet drinks consumption slightly increased the odds of dental erosion among US adults, although this relationship was not statistically significant. It is thus not yet clear that dentists should recommend diet drinks, as they might be linked to systemic diseases. The findings of this study are suggestive, though not significantly, that diet drinks may increase risk for dental erosion.
Research on Enamel Roughness
Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of low calorie soda beverages on the enamel of primary teeth. Study Design: Fifty enamel slabs were prepared from twenty primary extracted teeth and were equally divided into five groups: a) 0.9% NaCl (Control), b) Coca-Cola Classic (Sucrose), c) Diet Coke (Aspartame), d) Zevia Cola (Erythritol), e) Coca-Cola Life (Stevia). Each specimen was exposed to the beverage for a total of sixty minutes. Enamel surface roughness was measured before and after the exposures using a LEXT OLS4000 3D Laser Measuring Microscope. Results: All tested sodas resulted to a statistically significant change on the surface roughness of the enamel (p =.000). However, this effect did not differ significantly between the different treatment groups (p =.103). Conclusions: Both regular soda and low calorie soda containing different commercial sweeteners appear to have an effect on the surface morphology of primary tooth enamel.
Implications for Dental Health
The findings of these studies suggest that both regular and diet soda can have detrimental effects on tooth enamel. While regular soda promotes tooth decay through sugar content, diet soda contributes to enamel erosion through its high acidity.
Practical Tips for Protecting Your Teeth
It's safe to assume you may not want to totally remove sugary drinks from your diet, but according to the American Dental Association, simply reducing the number of sugary beverages in favor of other options is a great step. Water, unsweetened tea, milk, plain sparkling water, and diluted juice all have little or no sugar. Sugar-free drinks may cause dental erosion, but there are simple ways you can help protect your teeth. As the Oral Health CRC reports, brushing your teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste helps limit the effect these beverages have on your oral health, but it is recommended to wait one hour before brushing. Frequent Diet Coke consumption increases the risk of enamel erosion. Fluoride helps remineralize enamel and strengthen teeth. Chewing gum stimulates saliva production, which naturally neutralizes acid and washes away harmful particles.
Moderation and Timing
The problems caused by both diet and regular soda is exacerbated when you sip on them throughout the day. Drinking beverages that are lower in acid is a good step to take to keep your enamel strong. The best time for drinking sugar-free drinks is with meals, whereas continuously sipping during the day will cause the most damage.
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Rinsing and Neutralizing
After acidic meals or beverages, rinse your mouth with water, drink milk, or enjoy a little cheese. Dairy and other calcium-rich foods can help neutralize acids.
Proper Oral Hygiene
Cutting down on your sugar is a healthy choice to make, but it isn't guaranteed to protect your enamel. Brushing your teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste helps limit the effect these beverages have on your oral health, but it is recommended to wait one hour before brushing. Brushing immediately after consuming an acidic drink can actually do more harm than good. Acid softens enamel, and brushing can erode it further.
Professional Dental Care
A dentist in Cheshire, CT can monitor your enamel health and provide professional treatments if early signs of erosion appear. If you’re concerned about enamel erosion or tooth sensitivity, schedule an appointment with Advanced Dentistry in Cheshire, CT. If you are concerned about protecting your teeth, contact Sunrise Dental to schedule an appointment. Our friendly and talented dentists can answer all of your questions about dental health. Dr. Timothy Mettler, Dr. Victoria Griego, and Dr. Andrew Mikhail are committed to practicing the highest level of gentle dental care. Our comprehensive dental services include cosmetic, restorative, and preventive treatments to provide you with the best dental health possible.
Other Beverage Choices
According to a study conducted by Matthew M. Rodgers and J. Anthony von Fraunhofer at the University of Michigan, your best bets are plain water, black tea or coffee, and if you opt for a soda, root beer. In an experiment, the University of Melbourne’s Oral Health Cooperative Research Centre learned that the only drink they tested that caused minimal damage was milk aside from water. As you may be aware, milk contains calcium and phosphate which help to strengthen, rather than deteriorate, your teeth. Tap water may be the best and safest option. Many public systems treat water sources with fluoride, which fights cavities.