Soda and your teeth: It's not a good combination

A new recipe for “healthy soda” is sweeping social media.

It sounds intriguing: Instead of drinking a high-sugar cola with all its calories, simply mix a little balsamic vinegar with sparkling soda water — such as La Croix — and you have yourself a sugar free healthy cola substitute!

But hold on. It may it may be sugar free, it may taste like cola. Heck, it may even be better than cola. But healthy? That’s an entirely different matter.

As dentists, Drs. Huszti and Chong-Huszti know better. They see the effects of drinking too much pop every day in their Milford dental office. It’s not just the sugar, it’s the acids in the soda that are dangerous to the teeth. Also, it’s how people drink it that causes problems.

in a recent statement, American Dental Association spokesperson Edmond Hewlett said, “I love balsamic vinegar, but I enjoy it more on my salad than in my drinking glass. it’s much kinder to the teeth than bathing them in a beverage blend of two acids.”

The more acidic the drink, he went on to say, the greater the risk of tooth erosion with frequent drinking. This is true of citrus fruits and vinegars as well.

All acids can break down tooth enamel, and that loss is irreversible. So mixing a sparkling water — which is made sparkling with carbonic acid — with balsamic vinegar, also an acid, you are giving your teeth a double dose of acid, which is not good.

It’s made even worse when you think about how people drink soda. They take a sip, put it aside. A few minutes later, they take another sip, wait a bit, then drink some more. What you may not know is that it takes the mouth some time to return the mouth to neutralize the acids. So when you consume acidic drinks over a long period of time, your mouth remains acidic and that acid erodes enamel.

So what’s a soda lover to do? Don’t worry, you won’t have to give it up completely but, as in everything, moderation is best.

Drink your soda through a straw so it comes into only minimal contact with your teeth. And try to swallow quickly. You can neutralize the acids by rinsing your mouth with water, drinking mile or eating cheese right after a soda. Brush your teeth, but not too soon as this blog post tells you.

Last, and certainly not least, don’t get your ideas of healthy eating from social media. Ask our staff, we care about you and your health, not about clicks on social media.