Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Folke bomb here with a classic episode
Speaker 1: featuring our erstwhile host, Christian Sagar. This one concerns one
Speaker 1: of those health warnings that we hear but may dismiss.
Speaker 1: Is over cautious or an overstatement that soda will ruin
Speaker 1: your teeth. Christians here to separate the truth from the fiction.
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, it's me Christian Sagar. So there's this
Speaker 1: urban myth that soda can dissolve a tooth overnight. The
Speaker 1: Internet has thoroughly busted this. But just because it's proven
Speaker 1: that hanging onto a mouthful of cola for upwards of
Speaker 1: twelve hours won't hollow out your jaw, that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: you should try it. Soft drinks can indeed damage your
Speaker 1: pearly whites. But how and how much? Well, let's talk teeth.
Speaker 1: Your teeth have four basic layers, the root, the pulp,
Speaker 1: the denton protecting the pulp, and the enamel tooth. Enamel
Speaker 1: is the hardest tissue the human body produces. It's made
Speaker 1: up of crystal fibers packed together into a smooth mineral casing,
Speaker 1: or as we call it, a crown. But Unlike your bones,
Speaker 1: enamel is not a living tissue because it's not alive.
Speaker 1: That also means it can't repair itself. That means it
Speaker 1: takes damage from daily wear and tear, including what we
Speaker 1: eat and what we drink. There are two types of trouble.
Speaker 1: Drinks can cause all over erosion due to the acids
Speaker 1: they contain, and spot decay caused by the bacteria that
Speaker 1: grow on your teeth. Both come down to a pH
Speaker 1: imbalance on a scale from zero to xenomorph. The human
Speaker 1: mouth has a pretty neutral pH level, something around six
Speaker 1: point eight. The pH scale itself runs from zero to fourteen,
Speaker 1: with zero being the most acidic, fourteen being the most
Speaker 1: base or alkaline, and seven being neutral like pure water.
Speaker 1: Some of the bacteria in your mouth are sugar hungry,
Speaker 1: so when you consume sweet stuff like soda, they throw
Speaker 1: the bacterial equivalent of a house party. They'll link up
Speaker 1: into colonies on your teeth called a biofilm or plaque,
Speaker 1: and feast on the sugar and the lookscrete acids, which
Speaker 1: can weaken your enamel whenever they're hunkered down, eventually causing cavities.
Speaker 1: But Christian, you might say I only drink sugar free
Speaker 1: sodas well. That'll save you from cavities, but all sodas
Speaker 1: contain acids of their own. On the pH scale, soft
Speaker 1: drinks have been found to range from around four point
Speaker 1: oh to two point four. Your saliva should bring your
Speaker 1: mouth back to normal within a half an hour or so,
Speaker 1: but your enamel can be affected by anything from about
Speaker 1: a five point five or below. The erosion and decay
Speaker 1: caused by chronic soda consumption can be rampant, and yes,
Speaker 1: rampant is the official medical term. In one case study,
Speaker 1: soda abuse was found to do dental damage equivalent to
Speaker 1: meth or crack abuse. The only difference was the shade
Speaker 1: of discoloration in the patient's remaining teeth. Dentists recommend using
Speaker 1: straws and rinsing with water after drinking any acidic or
Speaker 1: sugary stuff. They also stress rushing twice a day with
Speaker 1: fluoride or remineralizing products to help maintain your enamel. In fact,
Speaker 1: it can't heal itself from the inside the way your
Speaker 1: bones do, but the mineral structure can be buffeted from
Speaker 1: the outside. These are good habits even if you've never
Speaker 1: touched a soda in your life. After all, sodas aren't
Speaker 1: the only culprits in enamel erosion, in tooth decay, and
Speaker 1: your future relationship with dentures isn't the only thing at
Speaker 1: stake here. Research has linked oral health and whole body health.
Speaker 1: This means a disease that starts in the mouth may
Speaker 1: have a hand in heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, respiratory infections,
Speaker 1: and even some cancers. Today's episode was written by me
Speaker 1: and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radios How stuff Works. For more on this
Speaker 1: and lots of other toothsome topics, visit our home planet,
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