Metal Mouth Message Board

I was going through my ortho papers and noticed one of them said the following: drinking soda while in braces may cause permanent damage to your teeth.
I am drinking sodas on a regular basis. I only drink the diet varieties, but nonetheless I am terrified. How is this possible? Why does the damage occur only with braces and not with bare teeth? Has the damage already occured? Will I see it if it occuring or it won't be noticeable until braces come off?

Thanks for everyone's input!

From what I have been told, any sugary drink sticks to the material used to bond the braces. Just like coffee, it can cause discoloration and cavities. I was told most foods and drinks are like magnets to brackets.

Imagine you're swishing soda around in your mouth, it can get all in the small gaps and is basically coating your teeth with sugar. If it is left there, bad things can happen. The same goes for coffee, orange juice, any fruit juice etc. If you drink lemonade or lemon water, the acid can erode your teeth.

If you are going to drink soda or anything except water, just use a straw and either swish with water or brush your teeth after you are done. This is good advice for those who aren't in braces also because these drinks cause problems for bare teeth.

Is it only sugar that is the problem? Because diet sodas do not have any... I tried drinking through a straw but unfortunately, it is just not enjoyable that much. It all becomes really confusing

I am a pepsi addict, BAD I KNOW. I always used a straw and I brush and rinse my mouth lots. I wish I could kick the habit but I can't. So I just make sure to clean my teeth and mouth often.

I wouldn't worry too much about it honestly as long as you're brushing at least twice a day. I drink diet soda all the time and my teeth are cleaner and healthier than ever before. Avoiding sugars is only recommended for younger kids since they tend to not have as good of oral hygiene as adults.

In general, pop is bad for teeth due to the acidity. I used to be an avid pop drinker, but gave it up for water about 6 years ago. My dentist checks for acid damage to my enamel every visit due to acid reflux issues. I decided it wasn't worth worrying about the pop as well. My Orthodontist hasn't discussed no pop with me, but he discusses good nutrition every visit. He is a proponent that good nutrition helps the body adjust to the braces quicker and heal well. He loves spinach...me not so much. With my splint it has been almost impossible to chew.

jamsmak04 wrote:I am a pepsi addict, BAD I KNOW. I always used a straw and I brush and rinse my mouth lots. I wish I could kick the habit but I can't. So I just make sure to clean my teeth and mouth often.

I hear you, I have a serious afflinity for Pepsi as well and also try to be as careful as possible.

tarabears wrote:I wouldn't worry too much about it honestly as long as you're brushing at least twice a day.

I am brushing at least 3 times daily (usually 4), and I take effort to go everywhere around the brackets and underneath the wires. Nothing unusual, just trying to brush from different angles, including top and bottom, to remove all the build up. However, I am still worried - here's why. Build up and stains are not that uncommon after braces, so it is hard for me to believe there are so many people who do not brush at least twice daily? Is it possible to still get those horrible decalcification stains even despite regular brushing?

Whether or not sugared soda, candy, (or simple starches) are bad for your teeth depends on how you consume them. Having a soda with your meal and a dessert afterwards? That's just fine. The sugars do build up a little bit of plaque, but the remaining sugar washes away in about 10-15 minutes.

Do you nurse your sweet tea, eat jolly ranchers a few times a day, or constantly snack in small amounts? You'll rot your teeth out in no time. Because the sugar stays in constant contact with your teeth, the plaque pretty much continually builds up.

Don't worry about the acid; soda is acidic, but unless you swish it around like mouthwash all the time, acid washes off your teeth so quickly it's not really a problem.

A straw doesn't prevent damage from sugary drinks; if the sugar only came into contact with a little part of your tongue, you'd have a tough time tasting it.

The website doctorspiller.com has an excellent article on tooth decay. http://www.doctorspiller.com/Tooth_Deca ... _Decay.htm (In fact, his website is a superb general dental information resource.) Reading his stuff inspired me to become a diligent flosser, for what that's worth. And if you DO nurse sugared drinks or have a hard-candy habit, you'll kick it in a hurry after reading it.

That is where I am confused: are decalcification stains seen after braces the same as decay? In other words, are they caused by the same mechanism? I understand that decay is bacterial, but those stains are supposedly a "build up" (of what)???

Does anyone know if just plain soda water is bad for braces? ie-Perrier? I drink this a lot and it does not have sugar or sweetners but it is carbonated.

No, simple carbonated water isn't harmful.

I know from many years of drinking large amounts of diet soda that it is fine for my teeth. Regular soda on the other hand feels as if it is etching at my teeth, and I would imagine is doing damage as the sugar is broken down. Once the fizz is out of either diet or regular, you have carbonic acid which is where the dissolved carbon dioxide is in equilibrium with the amount of carbon dioxide in the surrounding air. I am using the assumptions based on calculating acid rain damage to lakes, but the underlying chemistry is nearly identical. The mouth see's elevated CO2 levels from exhaling though so assuming water is present there will be carbonic acid there no matter what. My level of expertise on carbon dioxide chemistry does not apply to the phosphoric and citric acids, and I would have to go back to my surface water chemistry textbooks for that.

crooked rory wrote:I know from many years of drinking large amounts of diet soda that it is fine for my teeth. Regular soda on the other hand feels as if it is etching at my teeth, and I would imagine is doing damage as the sugar is broken down. Once the fizz is out of either diet or regular, you have carbonic acid which is where the dissolved carbon dioxide is in equilibrium with the amount of carbon dioxide in the surrounding air. I am using the assumptions based on calculating acid rain damage to lakes, but the underlying chemistry is nearly identical. The mouth see's elevated CO2 levels from exhaling though so assuming water is present there will be carbonic acid there no matter what. My level of expertise on carbon dioxide chemistry does not apply to the phosphoric and citric acids, and I would have to go back to my surface water chemistry textbooks for that.

Could all this be different for braced teeth?

Based on the results of my dental checkups, I would say that it is the same. I have had no tooth decay other than 4 small cavities that were on x-ray that I did not feel. That was after 4 years of not brushing, and drinking diet soda like water. Also, 10 years from my last dental checkup.