We know sports drinks can seem like a godsend when you’re out on a long ride or doing a serious workout. But now a new study, published in the clinical journal of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD), found that the increased consumption of sport and so-called “energy” drinks can lead to potentially irreversible tooth damage!
In the study researchers looked at nine energy drinks and 13 sports drinks and examined the high acidity levels that can erode tooth enamel, the outer layer of teeth.
“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,” remarked leader author Poonam Jain, BDS, MS, MPH, in a prepared statement. “Most of these patients are shocked to learn that these drinks are essentially bathing their teeth with acid.”
Energy drinks can have twice the damage to teeth than sports, in part because many people who drink the former tend to drink more of it. In other words the drinks that give you wings might give you dentures!