Sour Sweets And Your Teeth
Acidic and high in sugar – a bad combination!
Here at Abbey Road Dental, we love seeing our patients and providing them with professional, modern treatment options as well as lots of useful information to help with their personal oral health care. Part of our information reach is this lovely blog, and today we wanted to talk to you about the increasingly popular ‘sour sweets’.
It has been widely publicised that acid and sugar are both bad for your teeth, but many people remain in the dark about the exact reasons some sweets are seriously bad for the teeth and for our overall health.
So why are certain sweets so awful for the teeth?
Clearly, all the sugar they are made from is going to be an issue. Excess white refined sugar is bad news all round, and sweets have a lot of sugar in them. However, what many people don’t realise is some sweets are doubly bad for you. These tend to be the ones that are sour, super sour, tangy and tart; basically the ones that make your mouth contort a bit when you eat them! Our teeth are not fans of these sour sweets even if you are, and at our NW8 clinic, we’re regularly seeing the damage they do.
Acid
To put it all into perspective it helps to have a rough idea of the PH scale which goes from 0 to 12. 2 is around the level of our stomach acid, whereas 10 is like soapy water. A PH level of about 7 is neutral and this, or just slightly alkaline is a better level for your teeth and gums. When we consume acidic food our PH level dips and this creates a pretty nasty situation for your teeth to be in. Your teeth are basically given an acid bath which will damage them, regardless of how much sugar is involved or even if you have any plaque.
Acidic Sweets
General acidic sweets tend to sit at about a 3 on the PH scale, and more extreme sour sweets can be as acidic as 1.7 on the PH scale. This may not sound so shocking, until you realise that battery acid sits at 1.0 on the PH scale and our teeth start to be affected by acid at a PH level of 4.
Signs Of Erosion
Sour sweets can have significant detrimental effects on the teeth. They can cause the teeth to be extra sensitive, cause the edges of the teeth to appear more ‘see through’ and of course they can cause our teeth to rot.
Caring For Your Teeth
Abbey Road Dental recommends that you avoid sour sweets as much as possible. The double whammy of sugar and acid is not fun for your teeth and will cause damage eventually if you consume them regularly. When eating any acidic or sugary foods, try to drink water afterwards and chew on sugar free gum. But don’t brush your teeth straight after eating them as you will simply brush the teeth while they are vulnerable – try to wait for at least an hour.
Seeing Signs Of Erosion On Your Teeth?
If you’re seeing signs of acid erosion on your teeth, please visit our NW8 clinic and we can help you. If you have any issues that need attention, the sooner we treat them the better, so you can avoid more damage being done and invasive treatment later down the line. Please call us on 02076241603 for a friendly chat with one of our team.