With Christmas just a few months away, many people embrace Sober October as a chance to cut back on their alcohol consumption or quit drinking altogether. While there are many physical and mental benefits to reducing how much alcohol you consume, one lesser known one is healtier teeth.
Dr. Caroline Robins of Kiwi Dental in Carlow joined the Jennifer Zamparelli show to talk about effect alcohol can have on oral hygiene, and the reasons your teeth will thank you if you cut back on drinking*.
Given the somewhat grim nickname 'prosecco teeth', it broadly refers to how certain drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, can be damaging to your teeth "due to their acidic nature and sugar content", Robins said.
"You could call prosecco kind of the perfect storm in a drink", she added. "It's acidic because of its grape base ... and it's also sweet, which makes it really easy to sip away at. And that adds the third problem of what we call frequency of consumption."
She explained that this refers to how much we expose our teeth to acidity and sugar. "Over time we can run the risk of damaging those lovely pearly whites."
Using a straw is one way to avoid that contact when drinking fizzy drinks, but Robins is wary of suggesesting the same for alcoholic drinks.
It's not just the sweet and bubbly kind of beverage that can damage your teeth, as she noted that "different ones have different problems".
"Really the issus is this, most of the alcholic drinks and soft drinks that we consume, is their acidity. So our enamel is the hardest structure in your boday, it's harder than bone, but when the pH in your mouth drops below 5.5 this enamel starts to soften or just dissolves, so to speak.
"So a lot of these drinks that we're talking about here have a pH of around 2 to 4, so it's really assaulting the tooth, it starts to soften them every time we consume it."
Saliva normally brings the pH level back to neutral, but if we consume these drinks often enough, it won't be able to "win that fight", Robins said.
If you don't want to give up your weekly glass of wine, however, one way to prevent erosion is to take the opportunity to pair it with some cheese, which is good at neutralising the acids, Robins said, adding that both eating and drinking should be done in moderation.
Adding ice can also dilute the alcohol, and waiting an hour or so before brushing your teeth after eating and drinking.
