An "alarming increase" in
the consumption of sports and energy drinks is causing irreversible damage to
teeth, according to researchers in a new study.
Adolescents are being affected by
the damage more than any other age group, they say. The high acidity levels in
the drinks erode the tooth enamel,
the glossy outer layer of the tooth. Damage to tooth enamel is irreversible,
and without the protection of enamel, teeth become overly sensitive, prone to
cavities and more likely to decay.
The study is published in the
May/June 2012 issue of General Dentistry, the peer-reviewed clinical journal of
the Academy of General Dentistry.
"Young adults consume these
drinks assuming that they will improve their sports performance and energy
levels and that they are ‘better' for them than soda," said Dr. Poonam
Jain, lead author. "Most of these patients are shocked to learn that these
drinks are essentially bathing their teeth with acid."
Researchers examined the acidity
levels in 13 sports drinks and nine energy drinks. They found that the acidity
levels can vary between brands of beverages and flavors of the same brand. To
test the effect of the acidity levels, they immersed samples of human tooth
enamel in each beverage for 15 minutes, followed by immersion in artificial saliva
for two hours. The cycle was repeated four times a day for five days, and the
samples were stored in fresh artificial saliva at all other times.
"This type of testing simulates
the same exposure that a large proportion of American teens and young adults
are subjecting their teeth to on a regular basis when they drink one of these
beverages every few hours," said Dr. Jain. What they found is that damage
to enamel was evident after only five days of exposure to sports or energy
drinks, although energy drinks showed a significantly greater potential to
damage teeth than sports drinks. In fact, the authors found that energy drinks
caused twice as much damage to teeth as sports drinks.
It's important to educate parents
and young adults about the downside of these drinks. AGD reports that 30 to 50
percent of U.S. teens consume energy drinks, and as many as 62 percent consume
at least one sports drink per day. "Teens regularly come into my office
with these types of symptoms, but they don't know why," said Dr. Jennifer
Bone, an AGD spokesperson. "We review their diet and snacking habits and
then we discuss their consumption of these beverages. They don't realize that
something as seemingly harmless as a sports or energy drink can do a lot of
damage to their teeth."
Dr. Bone recommends that her
patients minimize their intake of sports and energy drinks. She also advises
them to chew sugar-free gum or rinse their mouths with water following
consumption of the drinks. "Both tactics increase saliva flow, which
naturally helps to return the acidity levels in the mouth to normal," she
said.
Also, patients should wait at least
an hour to brush their teeth after consuming sports and energy drinks.
Otherwise, said Dr. Bone, they will be spreading acid onto the tooth surfaces,
increasing the erosive action.
