Big Daddy of Decay

Most people think the biggest cause of tooth decay (Cavities) has something to do with candy consumtion. Wrong!  When I see a patient walk into the office with a lot of cavities, the first question I ask is "What are you drinking?". The reason being that soft drinks are the "Big Daddy" of tooth dacay. Let's examine why. Two reasons:

 1.  The average 12oz can of any softdrink has about 8 teaspoons of sugar. Those 16 oz bottles have about 11 teaspoons of suger! (Diet soft drinks are excluded because they contain nutrasweet not sugar). I'll bet if I put 11 teaspoons of surgar in a bowl and told you to eat it you would probably find that pretty disgusting.

2. Many patients tend to drink that can of pop over an hour or two. So the exposure to all that sugar takes place over a long period of time.

To make it simple, the bacteria in your mouth when exposed to sugar produce acids for about 20 min after the last exposure. So if you keep sippping that pop, get ready for hours of acid production, which leads to a lot of cavities!

So the lesson here is: If you really need that pop fix, try switching to diet soda. The bacteria can't use the nutrasweet to make acids. Or, if you have to have regular pop, drink it with a meal and be done with it. 

By the way, brushing after meals really does help!

 

To your health!

 

Dr.Salzberg

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