Soda is filled with a variety of ingredients that are delicious but addictive. The caffeine of soda will compel you and your children to drink high volumes of it. However, sugar is just as addictive – if not more so – and damaging to dental health. As a result, you need to work with your child and dentist to ensure that dental damage is minimized as much as possible.
Addiction To Soda Is Real
Anybody who has drunk a lot of soda for an extended period – and then quit – has experienced withdrawal symptoms that are quite painful. These symptoms may occur in you and your children and signal an addiction not only to caffeine but also to the sugar that provides its sweet flavor.
Unfortunately, that sugar is going to seriously damage the teeth of anybody who drinks soda more than once or twice a day. In fact, sugary drinks are particularly bad because they trigger what is known as an acid attack in the mouth.
How Sugary Drinks Trigger Acid Attacks
When you or your child drink soda, you trigger what is known as an acid attack. This problem occurs because the sugar in your mouth attracts bacteria and causes them to grow exponentially. The production of bacteria and acid will seriously damage your teeth for at least 20 minutes at a time.
And attacks will occur every time you take a sip of soda. Even worse, the attack will get more intense and, if you don't give yourself recovery time between individual soda drinks, you and your children could be causing a shocking amount of damage to your teeth. That's why it is critical to beat sugar and soda addiction and to get your teeth checked by your dentist after your family no longer drinks soda.
Alternatives To Consider
Beating soda addiction requires cutting out the sugary drinks that compel you to continue drinking. For example, iced tea provides the caffeine you get from soda without having any sugar. Don't buy sweetened tea, though, as this can be just as damaging to the teeth. Sparkling fruit water, kombucha, and even fruit smoothies are often easier for children to enjoy than straight water.
After you and your child quit drinking soda, schedule a trip to visit your dentist right away. They can spot early signs of sugar decay and do simple fixes that keep your teeth strong. This step is particularly important for children because it prepares them for the difficult rigors of dental management. Brushing, using mouthwash, and more can all be taught at this young age and continue late into life.
Just as importantly, your healthier drinking habits will model better behavior for your children and make it easier for them to avoid serious sugar decay. So don't hesitate to talk to your dentist about treatments for soda addiction and keep your children – and yourself – safe from dental decay.
For more information, check out a website like https://mycobbedental.com/.
Share29 October 2018
Hi, my name is Kevin Nelson and I want to tell you about my experience. I had a painful tooth so I went to see my dentist. After the examination, he said that I needed to have a root canal to save the tooth. I told the dentist to just pull the tooth instead and then he explained why that wasn't a good idea. He said that pulling the tooth would cause additional problems and then he told me what could happen. I didn't want any more problems, so the dentist did the root canal and I'm glad that he did. I wanted to write a blog to tell others about the benefits of a root canal and what to expect during the procedure. I hope that by getting the word out, other people won't make the same mistake that I almost did by getting a perfectly good tooth pulled.