Many alcoholic drinks, including beer, contain sugar that can damage your tooth enamel. Wines, margaritas, daiquiris, and other mixed drinks containing citrus juices or soda are even worse. The high acidity and overly abundant sugar content can increase your risk of tooth decay.
Alcohol, by its very nature, is dehydrating. It dehydrates your body and reduces the amount of saliva in your mouth. This can both damage and soften your enamel. In addition to physical problems and addiction tendencies, excessive alcohol consumption can cause a host of dental troubles, including gum deterioration, cavities, and even tooth loss over time.
If you are going to drink (and not excessively, we hope), there are a few things that we at Oral Surgery Consultants of Pennsylvania advise you to do in order to lessen the damaging nature of alcohol’s effect on your health.
- Brush and floss every night before going to bed -- especially if you’ve been consuming alcohol.
- Leave your toothbrush and floss out if you plan to go out and drink as a reminder to brush and floss before turning in.
- ·Swish water in your mouth while drinking alcohol to rinse sugar and acids away and add moisture to your mouth.
- Chew sugarless gum between drinks and after drinking.
While all of these tips won’t completely eliminate alcohol’s damaging effects on oral health, it can help to lessen the detrimental effects.
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