I was told to stop drinking diet coke by my dentist as it was bad for my teeth. They also told me to not drink fruit juice. About the only thing left for me to drink was fizzy water which is much more palatable than still water, but guess what? I’m not supposed to drink that either as that rots your teeth too. Is it really that bad for your teeth, and if it is, what is there left to drink that won’t end up with me getting a slap from my dentist next time I go for a check-up?

Errr… Normal water?

Errr… Normal water?

Problem solved*

*just don’t put them in carbonated water!

Milk. But not diet milk or diet fizzy milk.

Gin

it’s the acidity that is harmful to our teeth.
I would imagine that without the sugar and sweetners it’s less harmful.
unless you sit there swilling it around your mouth for a couple of hours a day.

how can carbonated water be bad for your teeth? its just water and co2

Which makes……….

Coke cleans up old coins like new so must clean teeth pretty well too.

Diet coke has a Ph of about 2.5
Sparkling water is around 3.0

So both pretty acidic and bad for your teeth.

Standard water or milk are both around Ph 7 so perfectly fine.

(unless you bath your teeth in any drink pretty much constantly, I wouldn’t worry too much !)

Really quite bad.

Avoid prolonged repeat exposures i.e. sipping from a bottle throughout the day
Limit to meal times
It is really important not to brush teeth immediately after anything acidic, try and leave it at least 1 hr and avoid ‘whitening’/abrasive tooth pastes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonic_acid

Coke cleans up old coins like new so must clean teeth pretty well too.

PMSL

nealglover – Member
Diet coke has a Ph of about 2.5
Sparkling water is around 3.0

The Coke figure is probabaly about right, but I’d be interested in where/how you got your figures for sparkling water (I presume c’n’p from the interweb)

Just out of interest I measured the pH of 2 bottles of sparkling water we have in our office, Perrier had a pH of 5.5, San Pellegrino 7.8 one mildy acidic, the other mildy basic – I would imagine neither pose any significant dental hazard unless you chip a tooth swigging from the bottle……

Discalimer: I am not an oral health professional

I want to work in an office where there are bottles of san pellegrino laying about 😐

And a method for measuring pH!

I try to give the mouth a good swill round with water after i have been drinking something like coke…..which isn’t that often really.

jfletch – Member
And a method for measuring pH!

If you really want to do this at home/work then Amazon sell litmus paper strips for a few quid, as long as the liquids aren’t too strongly coloured you should get pretty good results.

As above, adding sparkle to water makes carbonic acid, but it’s not going to be very concentrated.

On an interesting side note, sparkling water/ drinks can calm excess acid in the stomach by buffering the HCl solution.

You really don’t want to work in a place that can measure the pH of something.

I drink shed loads of diet coke and don’t yet look like Shane Mcgowan.
The dentist is normally quite complimentary except for telling me to floss more often, which lets face it, nobody actually does…

I put milk in our Sodastream when I was a kid. I can verify that the combination was not a winner.

floss more often, which lets face it, nobody actually does…

most tedious thing in the world

Saccades – Member
You really don’t want to work in a place that can measure the pH of something.

Why’s that ? pretty much rules out any school, university, hospital, industrial, research, pharmaceutical environment….

…Aaaah I keep forgetting, this place is the home of the swivelchair mousejocks isn’t it, hence the prevailing odour of BS 😆

hence the prevailing odour of BS

ah the crushing bitterness of a lab monkey…

this place is the home of the swivelchair mousejocks isn’t it

well, based on your assumption, then you must be one too?

****…i’ve been drinking shit loads lately after giving up coke for similar reasons.

I love a bit of proper science – measuring things. Well done hilldodger.

what is there left to drink that won’t end up with me getting a slap from my dentist next time I go for a check-up?

1: Drink what the hell you like.

2: Clean your teeth properly.

Next…

brakes – Member
well, based on your assumption, then you must be one too?

Nope, I don’t live here, just pop in occasionally for shitz’n’giggles 😆

jam bo – Member
ah the crushing bitterness of a lab monkey…

Ain’t that the truth…..

You really don’t want to work in a place that can measure the pH of something.

A winery? Actually they aren’t too bad.

I’ve had to give up pretty much everything I like, for medical reasons. So when my dentist suggested I stop drinking soft drinks and fruit juices I thought, no, tell you what, I drink what I like- you fix my teeth.

So far it is working well.

Well excuuuuuse me, but actually some of us considered ourselves to be more the swivel-eyed nobjock type.

Would Coke be any good at cleaning a chain?

1: Drink what the hell you like.

2: Clean your teeth properly.

Fail.

Acid erodes teeth. If you eat sugary (or starchy) things then bacteria accumulate on them, and they secrete acid. You clean your teeth to remove the bacteria.

However some foods are also acidic, and they erode your teeth directly. No amount of brushing your teeth will undo the damage that drinking acidic things does. Apparently acid also softens the enamel so if you clean your teeth immediately after acid exposure you damage the enamel far more than if you’d not bothered.

I love this forum. Top rate insults! As far as I can gather from the above information and advice, pretty much everything rots your teeth, so I suppose drinking fizzy things in moderation (whatever that is) is the way to go. I actually wore most of the enamel off my teeth through over brushing when I was younger. Thought it would be better to give them five minute instead of two. Shows what I know.