Does soda really damage your teeth? If so, which kinds (cola, root beer etc.) cause the most damage?

If you take your teeth, put them in a glass, pour soda over them and let them stand for days (or was it weeks...?), it will dissolve away the teeth. I saw a science project on it. Some kid actually acquired some used teeth and did the experiment for a science fair. I believe the clear drinks were the worst, but I don't really remember.

So, I strongly recommend not soaking your teeth in (what amounts to) sugar saturated carbonic acid (i.e. soda pop).

If, on the other hand, you take your teeth, pour soda over them momentarily then rinse immediately with a buffered, mineral-rich solution like, maybe, fresh saliva - you could probably do that daily for a lot of years before affecting any measurable reduction in tooth enamel.

By the way, lots of food are acidic. Many are more acidic than soda. I think anything tomato-sauce based qualifies, for example. (Tomato-based foods are also very effective for cleaning oxidized copper, by the way.)

I have never actually heard of a case of enamel loss due to drinking soda - and I have known people who drank on average more than a can a day, but at the same time I do not doubt that cases exist - probably extreme excessive consumption or defective saliva or defective enamel.

I don't recall ever hearing a dentist (I see one every six months) mentioning it either - So, while I agree that excessive consumption of soda is a bad idea for your teeth and your health, if it was a significant risk I would expect to see more interest from several independent sources.

Yes.

The soda that causes the most tooth damage is the one you are drinking when the hockey puck flies out of the rink and blasts you in the mouth.

If you are watching hockey on TV in the evening, you probably won't get smacked, so just brush your teeth before you go to bed.

Absolutely it damages them, even if you're not soaking your teeth in it (that would be awkward).

My cousin had to have her teeth veneered because of enamel loss due to Pepsi, but that's understandable when you take into consideration that she drank nothing but Pepsi for a very long time.

I would say in sensible amounts, it's fairly safe, as long as you're a regular brusher (and we all should be). The lesson I learned from my cousin is don't drink 3L of Pepsi daily.

On the plus side, her teeth look great now.

Well I think that sodas really do damage your teeth because it has acids and sugars and that stuff damage your teeth. I don't know which type of soda damages your teeth the most, oh well someone might know the answer to tha

If you use energy drinks and pop the energy drink Amp will do the worst damage to your teeth.

Mountain Dew is the MOST damaging. Trust me..that is all i've ever drank..and now i am having to get teeth work done. I will never drink that again..or any other damaging soda's. But i have a question...i heard that water is bad for your teeth too..how so??

Any soda is going to cause acid wear on your teeth. Acid wear is when the acids in the soda gradually break down the enamels in the teeth making your teeth more susceptible to tooth decay. The sugars don't do much for your chompers either.

Each year Americans drink, on average, nearly 600 cans of soda apiece. What does that do to their teeth? Studies have pointed to soft drinks as being responsible for adult's and children's tooth decay and obesity problems. It is a huge problem.

Many sodas contain acids and sugars that could erode tooth enamel over time. But when researchers affiliated with the Academy of General Dentistry placed teeth in a variety of soft drinks, they found root beer products did the least damage.

Consumers often consider soft drinks to be harmless, believing that the only concern is sugar content. Most choose to consume "diet" drinks to alleviate this concern. However, diet drinks contain phosphoric acid and/or citric acid and still cause dental erosion - though considerably less than their sugared counterparts.

While sugar in soft drinks is at least partially to blame for tooth decay, there are also other factors. The acidity from certain drinks also plays a role. If mouth acidity increases - and if it happens often enough - the chemical reaction hurts teeth to a greater extent. Over time the result is tooth decay.

Soft drinks, especially light-colored drinks, and canned iced tea appear to "aggressively" harm teeth!

"Drinking any type of soft drink poses risk to the health of your teeth," says AGD spokesperson Kenton Ross, DMD, FAGD. Dr. Ross recommends that patients consume fewer soft drinks by limiting their intake to meals. He also advises patients to drink with a straw, which will reduce soda's contact with teeth.

Soft drinks like Sprite, Mountain Dew, and Arizona Iced Tea were especially harmful to tooth enamel, reports researchers from the University of Maryland Baltimore Dental School. Tap water, root beer, brewed black tea, and black coffee all showed minimal enamel damage. If you're more of a soft drink kind of person, it appears that root beer might be the safest when it comes to keeping your teeth strong and healthy.

Summary:

Non-cola soft drinks caused two to five times the damage as darker drinks, such as Coke, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper.
Canned iced tea caused 30 times the enamel damage as brewed tea or coffee.
Non-cola drinks cause up to 180 times more tooth enamel damage than did water.
Root beer was the safest soft drink tested.
The best defense against tooth decay is drinking fewer soft drinks. Also, allowing more time between soft drinks, rinsing your mouth with water after drinking, or brushing your teeth will also help.

sierra mist if u dont believe me whatever you on ur own

i heard that A&W cream soda is the least damaging for your teeth.

Yes, regular sodas are very bad for your teeth. It is the biggest cause of tooth decay because most soda drinkers don't think to rinse out their mouth or brush their teeth afterward. The sugars sit on the teeth all day long. If you are a big soda drinker, you may want to consider a low calorie or no calorie soda. I know....they taste gross. But the new Coke Zero is pretty good.

I saw a test in a chemistry lab when I was 10. It was a piece of raw meat in a dish covered in coke and a very dirty old penny. The next day the meat was sludge and the penny looked new. I have never touched sodas since. They kill the enamel on your teeth.

Coke and other sodas and carbonated drinks are great for cleaning even badly stained porcelain.

What does that tell you about the affect on your teeth.

all kinds of soda damages your teeth. they eat at the..enamel i think its called, and they all nearly contain sugar, which is known to cause cavities. also, if you put a tooth in a glass of cola for....lets say, a week, the tooth should have dissolved! if its powerful to wash off blood, and do that much damage to your teeth, then what else can it do? (go check mythbusters-they did alot of cola myths)

You may like this:

I have decided to check out the rumors what going around in the past few years, and will conduct the experiment myself.
I have put my son's milk tooth in a glass of cola and made a picture* of it every day for about 2 weeks, then once a few days.
Time by time I have washed it with toothpaste and toothbrush, then replaced the cola with fresh one.
For the experiment I use Coca Cola, because that is the most popular cola.
The result can be seen at : http://thecocacolaexperiment.blogspot.com/