An article on Jezebel.com today highlighted how bad Diet Coke is for teeth as if this is some sort of shock. Apparently, it is for this site to focus so much attention on it. In case you are questioning the validity of the article, yes, Diet Coke and all diet drinks for that matter are bad for your teeth.
Many people prefer to drink diet drinks over regular soda because they contain artificial sugar. Rarely this reasoning is for their teeth; it’s most often a method for losing weight (which does immensely help). Many people know in addition that sugar is bad for teeth, so this switch to diet soda only justifies their decision.
However, as we have gone over a few times, the sugar in soda drinks is not the most harmful factor for your teeth–it’s the carbonic acid.
The particular study that Jezebel.com covered is a new study that researched the effects of carbonic acid on teeth as compared to the effects of methamphetamines and crack cocaine. What is really interesting is that the study found that all three sets of teeth had virtually identical enamel erosion and tooth decay.
Granted, as the American Beverage Association clearly pointed out, the soda drinkers used in this study were extreme Diet Coke drinkers. For example, one of the female Diet Coke drinkers reported that she consumed two liters of the diet drink a day for 3-5 years. On the other hand, while that may sound like a lot, other studies have found that the average soda drinker consumes at least one liter of soda a day.
In other words, watch your diet drink consumption if you won’t remove it from your daily diet completely. While the sugar of regular drinks is bad for your teeth, the carbonic acid contained in both regular and diet drinks is the true culprit of bad dental health.