Hi, I thought this would interesting to share, to help your Govan dental care!
Erosion
Erosion begins when the acids in soft drinks wash over the tooth enamel, the outside layer on your teeth, and start to demineralise it.
Fizzy drinks are made ” fizzy” by pumping CO2 gas through the liquid under high pressure- I always find that interesting, I don’t know why!
Cavities
This damage to your tooth enamel can then progress into cavities. Cavities can develop over time if you drink soft drinks regularly and if you add in a bit of poor oral hygiene, a lot of damage can get done to your teeth.
So, how to prevent damage?
Let me first tell you what happens in our mouths.
Well, whenever we take a fizzy drink or sugary snack, it causes a 20 minute spell where it lowers the Ph of our mouth, causing it to become acidic. Over the next three hours, our saliva then remineralises the teeth and returns the Ph back to normal. It’s like a to and fro kinda thing.
If you take another fizzy drink or sugar intake before the three hours is up, your saliva doesn’t quite manage to fully remineralise your teeth, and if this is repeated often then this can progresses over time to cause a cavity.
So again, its not the amount of sugar or fizzy drinks that we have, its the frequency.
If you drink one small glass of fizzy drinks, it does the same damage to your teeth as drinking two litres in one go. Yes, really! If you spaced out the two litres into a small glass every 20 minutes, your teeth would quickly be damaged.
- Drink in moderation.
It’s really important to not to drink fizzy drinks frequently as its the frequency and not the amount of fizzy drinks we take that causes the problems. It’s so important that I keep repeating this 🙂
- Drink quickly.
The longer it takes to drink a soft drink, the more time it spends affecting the enamel of your teeth. The faster you drink, the less time the sugars and acids have to damage your teeth.
- Use a straw.
This will help keep the damaging acids and sugars away from your teeth.
- Rinse your mouth with water afterward.
Flushing your mouth with some water after drinking fizzy drinks will help wash away any remaining sugars and acids, and stop them from attacking your teeth.
- Wait before you brush.
Despite what you may think, brushing immediately after you have sugar snacks or fizzy drinks isn’t a good idea. That’s because the friction against the vulnerable and recently acid-attacked teeth can actually rub away your enamel. Instead wait 60mins before you brush.
- Avoid soft drinks before bedtime.
Not only will the sugar likely keep you up, but the sugar and acid will have all night to attack your teeth. Just don’t 🙂
- Get regular dental checkups
Regular checkups and exams will identify problems before they worse
I really hope this was interesting, and if you have any aspects of your Govan dental care you’d like to know more about, just drop me a message!!