Dental Implants, Teeth & Cola

Have you heard the rumors about dental implants and teeth dissolving in various types of cola? Let’s face it: we all know that sodas, regular or diet, have no nutritional value. They also contain items that are harmful to humans’ or other living being’s health. Ingredient lists for various colas include caffeine, sugar, high fructose sweeteners or artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, carbonated water, cola nuts, and phosphoric acid. Seems like a long list of ingredients for a staple beverage in American culture, doesn’t it? Here are some things to think about regarding soft drinks and your pearly whites, natural or implanted:

What are Dental Implants?

Dental implants are a cutting edge way of replacing lost teeth. In the olden days, when a person lost a tooth or a whole mouthful of them, he or she had no choice but to go toothless, wear dentures or partial bridges glued in with adhesives or cement. These options weren’t perfect by any means and the new implantation techniques have been found far superior. The implant technology consists of placing a titanium screw in a patient’s jawbone. Next a dental prosthetic is attached and finished with a natural looking crown cap. These devices are very sturdy but will require care, just like each natural tooth. Adequate nutrition, flossing, brushing and appointments with the dentist will keep them in your mouth for a long time. As with your natural choppers, excessive soda drinking is detrimental to implants.

Acidic Beverages

Coke, Pepsi and generic colas contain heavy duty amounts of acid which are known for eroding enamel. It’s said that if you’re going to down glasses of soft drinks on a regular basis, root beer or 7-up are preferable in terms of acid content. An unlikely beverage that many think is healthy-all-around is orange juice. Yes, OJ has vitamin C among other nutritional components, but it is also acids and will erode enamel as well. Some reports show that soft drinks have as much as ten times the acid as fruit drinks, however. When in doubt, brush your teeth after imbibing in these beverages.

Dissolving Other Items

There are rumors circulating that if you leave a fly, tooth, or a rock in a glass of cola overnight, it will be gone by the next morning – dissolved without a trace. Snopes.com, which is a rumor-busting band of researchers, states that this is simply not true. Others swear by their home experiments. If you truly want to find out for yourself, try it at home, provided you have a spare tooth or fly that has bit the dust anyway.

Straws

Dentists have suggested the use of straws if chug-a-lugging high acid drinks. This allows the erosion factor to bypass the enamel and go right down the throat into the digestive tract. Beware, though, the fluid will still contain the calories and chemicals.

The debate regarding dissolving a tooth, dental implants or insects rages on. One issues not in debate, however, is that drinking too much of any sugary or chemically laden beverage is not in your best interest.