Whenever we think about sport drinks, the idea of gym, jogging, sports, or even just a mean of hydration come to mind. And indeed, sport drinks do help at that while also helping the body with electrolytes. But! They tend to be sugary as well as acidic, posing a threat towards our dental health.
Los Algodones dentists recommend keeping a good oral hygiene in order to avoid all possible damage towards our teeth. As such, we will be talking a bit more about these drinks! Of course they are not entirely bad, as you will definitely find how beneficial they can be.
What sport drinks are good for
First things first, they are drinks! And as silly as that sounds, they do their job at keeping your body hydrated. It also is obvious that they also help you regain all the minerals and electrolytes after a workout or sweating.
But what are electrolytes? To put in simple words, electrolytes are chemicals that conduct electricity when dissolved in water. There are many and each of them greatly help your body’s functions, such as heartbeat, muscle, blood pressure, and more.
Of course, there are many forms of electrolytes out there, so we will give you an example. Table salt is the most common way in which we get some electrolytes. Table salt (NaCl) upon dissolving in water it breaks into a positive ion of sodium (Na+) and a negative one of chloride (Cl-). Sport drinks generally have: sodium, chloride, potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphate and bicarbonate; which helps our body keep functioning!
The not so good side of them
Sport drinks can get pretty acidic and sugary in content, which is the perfect combination for an array of issues. You see, not only does the extensive contact of acid with our teeth weaken them, but also bacteria in our mouths make use of the sugar to form plaque and cause tooth decay.
So for someone with lacking oral habits, this can cause havoc on teeth easily. In order to know a little bit more about the subject, we will provide some more information:
Tooth enamel erosion
This can be compared to the effect of soda on our teeth. Due their high acidity, it will bound to take its toll on the outer shell of our teeth, the tooth enamel. And just below our enamel lies the dentin and nerves, both of them being very susceptible to changes.
By having our enamel worn down, it brings us to the next item:
Tooth sensitivity
With nothing to properly shield and protect the soft inside, then it is likely we suffer from tooth sensitivity. This means that eating as well as any change of temperature will cause great discomfort in our mouth.
Tooth decay
As mentioned before, sugar and acid are detrimental to our pearly whites. The acid weakens the enamel and the sugar helps the bacteria cause harm to our teeth. So there is absolutely no way in avoiding tooth decay if there is no brushing and flossing involved!
What can I do to stop it?
We asked Los Algodones dentists how to make sure we keep the damage to a minimum:
- Take small sips and take your time. This way you will let your mouth do its work with saliva in rinsing and neutralizing the acid. Using a straw also minimizes the contact it has with our teeth.
- Feel free to swish water or mouthwash in order to make sure to get all spots.
- Remember that upon consuming ANY acidic food, it is not advised to brush right off the bat. Acid leaves the outer layer of our teeth weak, so it is best to wait 30 minutes.
- You are very welcome to drink plenty of water after the sport drink.