Sugar and its Effect on Your Teeth

According to the World Health Organization, more than 2.3 billion people suffer from tooth decay. Commonly referred to as cavities, tooth decay is when the tooth becomes permanently damaged and develops holes. If left untreated, these holes become deep and close to the inside of the tooth where the nerves lay. This eventually leads to pain and infection. If the decay progresses to a certain point, the tooth needs extraction from the mouth. 

When people hear the word “cavity”, they assume that someone has not been brushing their teeth very well. However, though frequent brushing does help to prevent tooth decay, the damage is in what we consume on a regular basis. 

Most have heard from parents or teachers that drinking sugary drinks like sodas all the time will rot their teeth. This is actually true, sodas should only be drunk in moderation or else they will damage teeth. The sugars in the drink interact with the plaque already on the teeth and produce a type of acid. This acid then eats away at the enamel, or surface of the tooth, and forms cavities. Therefore, soda could be the cause of someone having no teeth at all. 

This has become a prominent problem in recent decades because added refined sugars have become more popular and accessible to the general population. Beginning in the 1950s, more and more products began to have this added refined sugar. The American Heart Association states that the average American consumes about 17 teaspoons of sugar a day, which correlates to about 57 pounds of added sugar per year. In reality, the recommended amount of added sugar by the American Heart Association is 6 teaspoons of sugar each day. 

More people need to be educated on the effect sugar has on teeth, so that less people have to experience unnecessary pain because of it.