Sugar Acid: Cavities, Tooth Decay and Enamel Loss

Not everyone is aware that there is a battle occurring in their mouths after every meal between food and tooth enamel.¹ Captain Aquafresh® is here to let you know what they’re up against.

What Is Sugar Acid?

Sugar acids start off as seemingly innocent as sugar from foods and drinks. Once they get inside your mouth, they team up with your mouth's plaque bacteria to form sugar acid, which attacks tooth enamel.¹ Your tooth enamel is the shield for your teeth. If exposed to pesky sugar acid too much, it can cause a loss of enamel, which can lead to sensitivity and cavities, also known as tooth decay.¹

And beware! Every time your teeth come in contact with sugary foods and drinks, a new attack starts all over again.¹

Beware the Sugar Acid Gang: Foods to Watch Out For

You should always watch out for your teeth whenever you run into ruthless sugar acid accomplices like:

cola

Soft Drinks

Soft drinks like soda (pop) and sports drinks can have a looooot of sugar. In fact, that’s mostly all what soda is… sugar!¹ Sipping on a soda multiple times can expose your tooth enamel to dubious sugar acids.¹ Treat yourself every now and then but protect your teeth by using a straw.² This will cause the drink to go to the back of your mouth and avoid your teeth as much as possible.

chips

Potato Chips

There’s a lot of satisfaction that comes with a crunch of a crisp chip. While not sweet and sugary, this less obvious culprit still has starches that are processed by plaque bacteria to produce sugar acid.³

sweets

Sweets

Any type of candy is sugar acid’s best friend. From chocolates to taffy, always take care of your teeth after consuming any sweets.³

juice

Fruit Juices

Take caution with fruit juices, like orange, cranberry and grape juice.⁴ Drink them through a straw to minimize contact with your teeth and water the juice down a little with tap water to lower the sugar concentration.²

Don’t Pass Up These Unsuspecting Foods, Too

Be on the lookout for obviously sugary foods like candy and cookies but also ones you wouldn't suspect like yogurts and cereals. These foods may seem harmless, but they also have added sugars that will happily attack your enamel.⁵

Other Ways to Help Protect Your Enamel from Sugar Acids

Along with watching out for common sugar acid accomplices, caring for your teeth is the best thing you can do to help bolster your defenses against cavity-causing attacks:

Drink tap water after sugar acid encounters. Every time you have a brush with sugar acid culprits, drinking tap water after can help. If your drinking water contains fluoride, this can help wash away sugar acids, and the fluoride can help strengthen and help rebuild your enamel.³
Brush twice and floss daily. Floss at least once daily and get a soft-bristled toothbrush and brush your teeth twice a day to strengthen your tooth enamel against these tooth decay-sters by using Aquafresh^® Cavity Protection Fluoride Toothpaste.³

Source Citations:

Oral Health Nutrition. South Dakota Department of Health. https://doh.sd.gov/topics/oral-health/oral-health-nutrition/. Accessed 08/06/2024.
The effect of different methods of drinking a carbonated beverage on the pH of dental plaque: an in vivo study. PubMed. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16475452/. Accessed 08/06/2024.
The Best and Worst Foods for Your Teeth. University of Rochester Medical Center https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?contenttypeid=1&contentid=4062. Accessed 08/06/2024.
Researchers Say OJ Worse for Teeth than Whitening. University of Rochester Medical Center. https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/researchers-say-oj-worse-for-teeth-than-whitening. Accessed 08/06/2024.
Breakfast Cereals and Yogurts. Action on Sugar. https://www.actiononsugar.org/surveys/2023/breakfast-cereals-and-yogurts/. Accessed 08/06/2024.

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