“Sugar is bad for your teeth.” – we can all agree with this statement, but there are a few myths or assumptions that we often hear so we want to break them down.

Your teeth love “diet” and sugar-free drinks. The logic behind this assumption is obvious: if sugar in beverages is harmful, then the sugar-free option must be fine. Surely you can drink lemonade or Coca-Cola without sugar and there will be no bad consequences for your teeth?

This is a myth. Some research has shown that sugar-free Coca-Cola had a worse effect on teeth than regular Cola-Cola.

While diet drinks may have some benefits, preserving your enamel is certainly not one of them. Many sugar-free drinks are rich in phosphoric acid, citric acid and / or tartaric acid and it is these acids that can damage the enamel in your teeth; leading to deterioration and potential caries or gum problems.

This is true even for fruit juices, which can be rich in natural citric acid – while replacing lemonade with orange juice could have a lot of benefits for your health, it’s not a guideline to overdo it by consuming fresh orange juice. Our advice: drink orange juice, but with a straw.

There are, of course, drinks that do little or no harm to your teeth and it’s no surprise that water is at the very top of that list, but we can understand that sometimes you want to drink something else as well. Tea and coffee are relatively acceptable for teeth (though, drink them in smaller amounts if you want to keep the whiteness of your teeth). Milk is also considered an acceptable drink when it comes to the health of your teeth.

It is ok to throw out all the sugar. If sugar is bad for your oral health, the logic should be very simple – reduce sugar, improve dental health, eliminate sugar, enjoy optimal dental health.

The problem is that dental health is not the only aspect of your health to consider (although our topics are dental-oriented, we want to educate you on how to always look at the bigger picture). Yes, it is recommended to eliminate refined sugars like those in sweets, but not the “natural” sugars fructose and lactose found in fruits and dairy products.

Foods with natural sugars contain other important nutrients that help stabilize blood sugar levels and contribute to your overall health.

Glucose in refined sugars breaks down in the mouth, resulting in those nasty acids we mentioned earlier, while fructose and lactose break down in your stomach (that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t brush your teeth after consuming natural sugars because they also leave trace on your teeth).

To reduce the impact of sugars and acids in foods that contain natural sugars, maintain a quality oral health routine at home and visit your dentist regularly. As we’ve written so far, there are a lot of processes going on in our mouths that can have an impact on overall health, and often dental problems can tell us that something else is wrong.

You should brush your teeth immediately after consuming sugar. Yes, you should, but it depends on what kind of sugar is consumed and what is it mixed with.

It is good to brush your teeth after consuming refined sugar, such as biscuits and sweets, but brushing your teeth after, for example, orange juice – which is a combination of sugar and acid – not so much.

When you eat or drink something sour, the pH level in your mouth changes, and brushing your teeth right after increases the risk of enamel damage. In such situations, it is best to wait an hour before brushing your teeth.

Proper dental hygiene, and thus the knowledge of when to follow or wait with brushing your teeth and reducing foods full of sugars and acids, reduces the possibility of further damage to the teeth, and thus overall oral health.

Although sugar is undoubtedly harmful to teeth in the long run, frequent and excessive consumption leads to the accumulation of plaque, bacteria and all kinds of dental problems, we must not think that only this one item is the worst. As mentioned above, acid in food and drink can be just as harmful, if not more so, and very often we can find it precisely in sugar-free diet products.

Eat healthy and fresh food and your health will be thankful.

And for the end…

The key is to reduce or eliminate refined sugars and adhere to a thorough oral hygiene routine at home – this includes tricks like brushing your teeth before meals in the morning, using floss regularly and of course, drinking water throughout the day to keep your saliva levels at optimal levels.

It is also necessary to maintain regular dental checkups in order to detect and prevent or cure potential problems in time.

Contact us for your next check-up, and take care of your health!

Author: Ivana Rokolj