Two Dental Reasons It Is Time To Ditch Your Soft Drink Habit

At the beginning of every year, millions of people use the date change to make pledges to themselves about things they want to alter. Weight loss, increased fitness and diet are often at the top of the change wishlist. One easy place to make a dietary change is to ditch a soft drink habit. As someone who consumes at least one fizzy drink a day, you know that saying goodbye to soda would help your waistline. But are you aware it could also help your mouth? Here are two dental reasons why it's time to break up your relationship with soft drinks for good.

Tooth Appearance

A number of health and community groups, including Diabetes Australia and the Australian Dental Association, are promoting an online campaign with graphic photos of dental decay caused by the sugar in soft drinks. As an example, in a 600ml bottle of Coca-Cola, there is 64g of sugar, which equates to 16 teaspoons! However, instead of just putting this information in a chart with the hope soft drink users will read it, they are also promoting visual pictures of mouths filled with rotten teeth. Large sugar consumption leads to tooth decay because the bacteria in your mouth have a feeding frenzy on sugar found in the mouth after eating and drinking. The bacteria turn the sugar to plaque, which then leads to tooth rot, cavities and worse.

Mouth Odour

After eating and drinking, your body breaks down what you have consumed and uses it for fuel. Sometimes, when the body is digesting carbohydrates, a problem occurs and the result is bloating and gas. A side effect of these digestive issues is bad breath. Sugar is a carbohydrate, and not only does it cause mouth odour from the stomach, but it also creates bad breath within the mouth. When sugar is left in the mouth after drinking a soft drink, bacteria multiply as they feed on this food source. The more bacteria you have in your mouth, the more sulphur-smelling odour is produced. So sugar is a double-whammy issue when it comes to bad breath.

Soft drinks are bad for your waistline and bad for your teeth. Today is the day to say goodbye to this excess sugar in a can and to embark on a healthier journey. To start this journey on the right foot, make an appointment with your dentist to get your teeth cleaned and to address any dental issues which may be lurking from your soft drink habit.


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