Is sparkling water bad for your teeth?

The answer is: no, sparkling water is not bad for your teeth. Dagmar Else Slot, professor of prevention in oral care at the Academic Center for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), explains the answer AVROTROS Radar.

Tooth erosion from acidic food or drink

Slot explains that the degree of tooth erosion is caused by how acidic the product you eat or drink is. It is also important how much time your saliva needs to neutralize the resulting drop in pH.

In general, sparkling water will not have any negative effects on your teeth. “Sparkling water does contain carbon dioxide, but this is many times less acidic than, for example, cola or orange juice. In addition to the type of acid, the quality of your saliva is also important. For sparkling water, your saliva does not need much time to neutralize it relatively speaking. So it is not nearly as erosive as, for example, cola or orange juice,” Slot tells AVROTROS Radar.

Flavors by the water

“The biggest problems arise when a drink is flavored.” Because water to which flavorings have been added is more harmful to your teeth. Syrups in particular contain a lot of sugar. Therefore, pay close attention to this.

What also comes into play is how much of something you eat or drink. “If you only drink sparkling water throughout the day, you can imagine that it could eventually be harmful after all. As with everything, enjoy in moderation and replace it with still water every now and then.” In addition, according to her, it is better to drink (or eat) something all at once than spread out over the day. “The same as eating a bag of candy right away rather than spread out throughout the day,” says Slot.

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