Orange juice is worse for your teeth than standard teeth whitening kits! A new microscopic technique that can examine the surface of teeth showed that orange juice was more damaging.
Teeth whitening kits, both home and professional, contain 6% hydrogen peroxide. It has been suggested that this strength of hydrogen peroxide is quite damaging to the surface of teeth.
The new technique looked at the surface of the teeth and estimated changes to the surface and hardness.
The researchers found that teeth whitening had little impact on the surface of the teeth, whereas orange juice slowly ate away at teeth. Therefore, over time regular drinking of orange juice could weaken teeth.
Sodas are also acidic and so may be having the same effect. Ditto for sports drinks and wine.
The length of time that teeth are in contact with acidic drinks is important. Sipping a drink exposes teeth to acid longer. So chug that drink!
A straw also helps protect teeth, since much of the drink bypasses the teeth.
Drinking water or eating cheese after an acidic drink helps reduce the acidic environment in the mouth. Anything that means I can eat more cheese is fine with me.
[tags]orange juice, teeth whitening, teeth, acid drinks, cheese[/tags]
