If you must drink carbonated drinks

I am finally going to bite the proverbial bullet and begin writing down all these random thoughts that I have to share. A blog just seems like the best way to get the thinking out. I welcome your comments, and I promise to be controversial. While the blog is intended for the public, it will have topics that will appeal to fellow dentists. Please forgive me if I don't write to the level of an eighth grader. Some of this thinking will be well above the heads of an eighth grader.

I saw a presentation two weeks ago at the World Congress of Minimally Invasive Dentistry on the relative risks to the teeth from decay of drinking various popular drinks. The teeth are continuously demineralized from the food and drink and remineralized from the saliva in a process that repeats every time food or drink passes the lips. The teeth decay when they are attacked by the decay causing bacteria after they have been weakened by demineralization.

I have always recommended avoiding sodas because of the high acidity of the drink caused by the carbonic acid that makes the bubbles. There is no surprise that Coca Cola is bad for your teeth. Some time ago I found that sports drinks like Gatorade without bubbles have even higher acidity than sodas.

Dental research designed a study to see how the various drinks affect the demineralization of the teeth. And not surprisingly, Coca Cola did not do well, but it was not the worst. Mountain Dew was responsible for the most tooth structure dissolving with time of any of the drinks tested.

The biggest surprise for me, was A & W root beer, which is also carbonated with carbonic acid. But the study showed that A & W root beer was the closest to water in low potential for damage to the teeth. As a matter of fact, it helped remineralize the teeth.

So if you must drink soda, drink root beer. It has been shown to be the least destructive to the teeth of any of the popular sodas.