The truth about sports drinks

posted in: Oral Health | 0

Whether you’re heading into spring and summer sports with your children, or your children are fans of the beverage, sports drinks are everywhere! While sports drinks may seem like the healthy alternative to water, they can in actuality be quite damaging to your child’s teeth. 

sports drinks

How do sports drinks damage teeth?

While sports drinks do tend to have high amounts of sugar, that’s not what makes them detrimental to your child’s oral health. The real culprit behind sports drinks is the acidity that can cause irreversible damage to young teeth. The acid in sports drinks breaks down enamel, the shiny outer layer of your teeth, causing them to become overly sensitive to temperature changes, touch, and more susceptible to cavities. The General Dentistry Journal found that sports drinks contain such a significant amount of acid that they can begin destroying the teeth in as little as five days!

sports drinks damage teeth

What can you do to prevent the negative affects of sports drinks?

Water! H20 is the best way to quench thirst and keep teeth strong.

Eliminating sports drinks from your child’s diet completely may be impossible, so here are some tips that can help reduce the damage:

— Wait at least 30 minutes before having your child brush their teeth. Brushing immediately after drinking acidic drinks, i.e. sports drinks, can cause serious corrosion of dentin, the layer below a tooth’s enamel.

— Drink with a straw or in one sitting. Remember, “Sip all day, get decay!” — Neutralize the effect of sports drinks by alternating sips of water with the drink.

— Chew sugar ­free gum or rinse the mouth with water following consumption of sports drinks

children active in sports