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Save your teeth, Don't drink Gatorade

Published by
ryanwestman   Mar 6th 2008, 11:22pm
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I am now sitting in my room with an eleven hundred dollar estimate for a root canal on one of my teeth. In fact this would be the fourth root canal I have had since August of 2007. Anyone who has had one can tell you that root canals are no trip to the beach, so I started looking into reasons why I might be suffering from such bad dental luck. Don't get me wrong, I naturally have softer tooth enamel, a trait which I picked up from my father. I do, however; brush twice daily and chew gum with xylitol (recommended from my dentist) which neutralizes the bacteria in your mouth which cause decay.

As an athlete, I as many do, replenish myself after a long run or tough workout, and many times in between. It is not uncommon for me to go through two or three 64 ounce bottles of the Gatorade in a race weekend. I love Gatorade, it tastes great and I feel great afterward, but the whole time I am drinking it, am I digging my own grave?

This past fall, my roommate and I stocked up on a great deal at our local supermarket, which was in my mind gold. There were Gatorade 8 packs, 3 for $12 and if you bought three you got one free. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that we then bought enough 8 packs of gatorade (12) to last us through the fall. So after hard workouts, I would drink a Gatorade, or maybe two if I was thirsty, and before long we began to see that our stock was diminishing, faster than we had expected. Less than two months later we had finished all 100 bottles we had purchased.

Returning home this past winter for my check up with the dentist, he noticed that there was a fair amount of decay on a few of my teeth and asked "have you been sucking on lemons?" due to the fact that he saw a difference in the enamel of my teeth. This check up provided me with a wonderful two emergency root canals and the thought that the abundant drinking of my favorite sports drink my have been the leading cause of the problem.

So I began to do some research and found some extraordinary findings. It has been well documented in the past few years that Gatorade is very corrosive to tooth enamel.

According to an article on WebMD.com "Gatorade erodes teeth faster than Coke". Yes this is the same Coke that according to all of our high school science teachers "will eat through the metal on your car" if poured on the hood and left to sit. The article continues on to say:

"I don't think everybody realizes how erosive these things are, especially Gatorade and Red Bull," Ehlen tells WebMD. "People need to be aware that all sorts of beverages can be causing dental erosion."

That was not the only place where I found evidence of Gatorade's effects on tooth enamel erosion. According to a study done in General Dentistry:

"We were totally shocked at how aggressive these were towards dental enamel," von Fraunhofer tells WebMD. "This study revealed that the enamel damage caused by noncola and sports beverages was three to 11 times greater than cola-based drinks, with energy drinks and bottled lemonades causing the most harm to dental enamel," he says, in a news release."

It is troubling for me to know that I may have been doing this to myself all along and my recent problems in the dentist chair are a result of what I have been putting into my body. But there is a solution. Drinking Gatorade doesn't have to be detrimental to your teeth, as long as you use it the right way. The suggestion I received from my dentist was to water down the sports drink or to rinse my mouth afterwards to make sure that the after effects of the drink did not go to work on my teeth. This is echoed by a few of the articles I read.

An article which I found on dentalcomfortzone.com said the following:

"The most important thing to remember is that acidic beverages and those that contain sugar can damage teeth. If avoiding these beverages is not practical, I recommend rinsing your mouth with water or brushing your teeth directly after drinking. Use a straw and drink the beverage in one sitting, do not sip it throughout the day, will also limit damage. Good oral hygiene, fluoride toothpaste and mouth rinse can help prevent tooth decay promoted by acidic and sugar-containing beverages."

Reviewing the article from WebMD left me with a haunting feeling in my gut, especially knowing the condition of my teeth now:

Von Fraunhofer stands by the study and says he isn't trying to trash any drink. "What we're saying is, by all means, drink what you want. Don't sit and sip [these drinks] for a long time. Rinse out with a bit of water. That will minimize the effects. The other thing to realize is that when once enamel is gone, it's gone forever. It doesn't come back."

Drink with care.

Ryan

 

 

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