Dentist group: Warns extra sugar found in energy drinks may increase tooth decay

By: Donathan Prater | Opelika Auburn News
Published: March 21, 2008

When you’re done with your workout, sports drinks may be good for a pick-me-up. But the truth about a lot of these drinks may literally be a little difficult to swallow when it comes to their effect on your teeth.

Despite the evidence that an energy drink could actually negatively impact one’s dental health, the market for these types of beverages has steadily grown during the past decade, according to a recent newsletter from the Academy of General Dentistry (www.agd.org).

But it’s what happens when these types of drinks hit your teeth that concern A.B. Carroll III, a dentist at Pediatric Dentistry Associates in Opelika.

“Certain soft drinks already have an extremely high acidity, but with sports drinks, there is usually additional sucrose (table sugar), caffeine and carbohydrates,” said Carroll. “Many of these drinks are designed to give you an energy boost after exercise and they do, but the attack on the enamel of the tooth once you drink them or consume any item with sugar in it begins almost
immediately.”

Carroll said there is about half an hour of acidic activity that the teeth are exposed to after one has consumed food or drank a beverage.

Many sports and energy drinks are popular among young adults, and that may add to the level of dental caries (tooth decay) in their teeth. According to a study by the AGD, the teeth of young adults may be more susceptible to attacks from acids in soft drinks due to the porous quality of their immature tooth enamel.

Even some bottled waters may be damaging to one’s teeth, according to Carroll.

“When you’re drinking bottled water, you’re not getting the fluoride you’d be getting from regular tap water,” Carroll said. “The fluoride that is present in tap water helps your teeth in a couple of ways.

“The fluoride in tap water may be incorporated into the enamel of the teeth in children and younger persons as they form and have topical effect in protecting the teeth of older persons.”

But there are a few tips those who opt for energy drinks can follow to reduce the amount of acidity exposure their teeth receive.

“Just take a little time and read the labels on these energy drinks to see just how much sugar and other stuff is in them,” Carroll said. “If you are going to drink these energy drinks try to brush your teeth as soon as possible afterwards.”