Summer is here, and that means it’s even more important to stay hydrated—especially if you play outdoor sports or work outside.

But it’s also important to remember that the best way to stay both healthy and hydrated is to drink water. There are countless sports and energy drinks on the market in 2018, and they all promise to hydrate and energize, but their advertising campaigns fail to mention that they’re packed with sugar.

At 101st Adult Dentistry, we’ve seen the damage that sports and energy drinks can cause. In fact, many of those drinks—which are promoted as being part of an active and healthy lifestyle—often contain even more sugar than candy bars and sodas.

What Makes Sports and Energy Drinks So Bad for Teeth?

Teeth are naturally strong and resistant to most of the foods we eat and the liquids we consume, but sugar is one substance that’s particularly damaging to them. Sugar by itself doesn’t actually cause tooth decay. Instead, it feeds bacteria that live in everyone’s mouths. Over time, the bacteria multiply and produces acids, which remove minerals from tooth enamel.

Saliva is constantly battling against this process, but it can be overwhelmed when sugar causes bacteria to multiply out of control. Eventually, enough minerals are removed from teeth that they begin to weaken and develop soft spots or holes called cavities.

Sports and energy drinks promote this process due to the huge amounts of sugar that they introduce into the mouth in a short period of time. Studies show that sports and energy drinks are more acidic than sodas, and they damage enamel twice as badly as popular soft drinks.

Oral health experts say that drinking even a single sports or energy drink per day can be harmful. But if people don’t want to give them up, they should drink them in moderation, and when they do consume those drinks, they should rinse their mouths with water afterward to reduce the amount of leftover sugar and acid.

Prevent Cavities by Booking a Cleaning and Checkup Appointment Today

At 101st Adult Dentistry, we’ve seen many teens and young adults with no signs of cavities come back into our offices less than one year later with multiple cavities, and it’s often due to drinking sports and energy drinks.

Stay on top of your oral health. Replace sugary drinks with water and book a dental cleaning and examination today. Call our Clarksville dental office at (931) 906-8800 or request a dental appointment online today.