Still aren’t sure about how unhealthy soft drinks can be on your teeth? Do you still consume several soft drinks a day? Do you hide behind the notion that you only consume “diet” soft drinks?
Of course, we’re going to recommend that you cut out all soft drinks from your diet altogether, even “diet” soft drinks since the “diet” only removes sugar and not the even more harmful carbonic acid. However, we are realistic, and we only ask that you cut down your soft drink intake each day to preferably only one or two a day.
If you don’t think you can, or you really aren’t sure how bad soft drinks can be on your teeth, let us share a recent horror story from Adelaide, Australia.
William Kennewell is a 25-year-old man from Adelaide who recently had to have all of his teeth removed due to his soft drink addiction. Granted, Mr. Kennewell was (and most likely still is) extremely addicted to soft drinks. He reported that he drank six to eight liters of soft drinks (approximately 1.4 to 2 gallons) a day. That’s over 20 12-ounce bottles of soft drinks each day.
He ignored all of his dentist’s warnings about what his consumption had done to and was doing to his oral health. As a result, he lost all but 13 teeth due to decay and developed blood poisoning. When the last of his teeth were removed, his blood poisoning greatly improved and he will make a full recovery. At 25 years of age, he has no teeth, only dentures.
Mr. Kennewell’s story is an extreme one, but it’s been enough to stir Australian health experts into calling for tooth-decay warnings on all sugary drinks sold in Australia.
Now, just because you personally don’t drink nearly 2 gallons of soft drinks a day doesn’t mean you have nothing to learn from Mr. Kennewell’s story. His tragedy was caused solely from soft drinks, thereby sadly proving how damaging soft drinks can be on your teeth. Even if you only drink diet soft drinks, know that the carbonic acid contained in soft drinks is just as damaging. The sugar compounds the effects to be sure, but you aren’t safe by just removing the sugar from your drinks.
Cut your diet down to one or two soft drinks a day if you can’t remove them entirely. Your dentist and your teeth will thank you.