Many people love a fizzy drink to quench their thirst, and diet variants are deemed to be the healthier option. However, a new study has found that it could soon be scrutinised for the effect it has on your health. Researchers have discovered consuming too much of the fizzy stuff could wreak havoc on your teeth to the same levels that meth or crack cocaine do. When analysing the teeth of women and their drinking habits, researchers noted that too much diet soda caused the same level of tooth decay and erosion as seen in drug users.
Looking at an anonymous female participant in her thirties, researchers noted that she began drinking diet soda in order to limit her weight gain. This developed into a habit of drinking two litres of diet soda each day for three to five years. The effects on her teeth were astonishing, leading to erosion that put her teeth at the same level of a 29-year old meth addict, and a 51-year old longtime crack addict. With regards to the meth addict, he had used the drug for over three years – the other sample was from a man who had used cocaine for 18 years. Dr Bassiouny from Temple University School of Dentistry in Philadelphia, PA explained that the effects are startling when the images are placed side by side with those of ‘coke mouth’ or ‘meth mouth’. All three products, he states, are extremely acidic which explains why those people with completely different vices had similar erosion. None of the teeth with this erosion were salvageable.
Researchers are keen to point out that simply drinking diet soda wouldn’t lead to these levels of dental problems that were seen in the recent report, as this was a combination of excessive consumption and poor dental hygiene. However, it’s important to remember that your teeth are affected by your diet and hygiene habits, so limiting your intake of sugary drinks can help to preserve the health of your teeth.
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