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When I was in junior school (many, MANY moons ago!), we once did a science experiment that involved placing a tooth in a glass of lemonade. One week later, we were all dumbstruck to see that the tooth had completely dissolved, as a result of all the sugar contained within the fizzy juice!
Thankfully, today’s brands of fizzy drinks and soda aren’t quite so jam-packed full of sugar, and in fact nowadays you can enjoy pretty much all of your favourites in a low-cal, sugar-free option.
But while sodas and soft drinks may now perhaps be kinder to your teeth and your waistline, you might be surprised to hear that they can actually have a pretty negative impact on how fresh your breath smells…
Believe it or not, there’s a proven scientific link between carbonated drinks such as cola and bad breath.
It’s all to do with bacteria that we all have and need in our mouths. In normal amounts these bacteria have an important role to play in your body’s digestive processes and don’t normally cause any problems. However, when they multiply in excessive amounts the unpleasant side-effect of halitosis often occurs.
Without getting bogged down in too much of the boring technical stuff, these bacteria are anaerobic, meaning that they survive – indeed, they positively thrive – without oxygen.
Now, carbonated soft drinks are pumped full of carbon dioxide – it’s what gives them their ‘fizziness’. High levels of carbon dioxide equal lower levels of oxygen. So every time you take a big mouthful of your favourite soda drink you’re simply encouraging these bacteria to grow to large amounts that can lead to bad breath.
It sounds unlikely that something so sweet could be responsible for making your breath smell so foul! But many dental research studies have concluded that fizzy drinks are one of the major factors which can cause bad breath.
While it might not taste quite as nice, water seems to be the very best drink for achieving and maintaining good standards of oral health.
As well as being free from any sweeteners, colors, preservatives, etc it is the most effective drink at keeping you properly hydrated. This in turn means you have an adequate supply of saliva in your mouth – something which is also important from a bad breath perspective as a dry mouth is also one of the things that can contribute to halitosis.
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