3 Reasons to Brush Your Teeth After Drinking a Soft Drink

When you go out to lunch and have a cola with your meal, you probably don’t think much about brushing your teeth afterward. Few people do, since they usually figure they can do it once they get home. Consuming even a single soft drink can prove problematic if you don’t take the right precautions afterward, though, since these drinks are rich in several compounds that can contribute to tooth decay.

Perhaps a more immediate effect is that sticky feeling you have to suffer through after you’ve had one without getting a chance to brush. As you read through these three issues, you may want to take a moment to reflect on when the last time you had a chance to get to a sink.

3. Sugar Contributes To Bacteria Growth

Dentists have found that sugar feeds bacteria that live inside of your mouth, thus enabling them to create even more acidic compounds as waste products. That can speed up tooth decay considerably in patients who already have at least some form of it. Individuals who allow sugary substances to remain in their mouths for too long without brushing are essentially helping the decay process.

2. Certain Compounds May Aggravate Sensitive Teeth

If you have trouble eating certain foods, then there’s a good possibility that you could also run into difficulty with soft drinks. Patients with sensitive teeth should make a dental appointment and see if there’s an underlying cause for their condition. Those who deal with this problem on a daily basis will likely want to avoid all processed soft drinks and anything containing large amounts of sweeteners. Keep in mind that glucose and fructose added to drinks do represent a form of sugar and may still aggravate your teeth. In many cases, it can also contribute to another problem.

1. Acids Can Corrode Teeth

Soft drinks can eat away at the enamel of your teeth due in part to the fact that they’re chemically different from the inside of your mouth. In general, your mouth has a fairly neutral pH and anything that’s too far off from this baseline can be a problem if you don’t take the time to brush your teeth. Even natural fruit juices can be very acidic, which in turn can do at least a bit of dental damage.

Cranberry juice has a pH of around 2½, which is a potentially serious problems. These types of juices can be good for your health since they contain a high concentration of certain vitamins, but the acid will literally eat away at your teeth if you don’t brush them after breakfast. Drinking a processed soft drink, such as cola or a sports beverage, is far worse and can accelerate decay much faster if you’re not careful about brushing afterward.

Though it only takes a few minutes to brush after drinking a beverage, it’s a good idea because of these as well as a host of other hygiene-related reasons. While it might not seem like it will make a big difference, removing sugar from your teeth as soon as possible is always important.