It has been found that the consumption of sports and energy drinks, causes irreversible damage to the teeth.

In a recent study published in the May/June 2012 issue of General Dentistry, “Young adults consume these drinks assuming that they will improve their sports performance and energy levels and that they are ‘better’ for them than soda,” said Poonam Jain, BDS, MS, MPH, lead author of the study.

“Most of the patients are shocked to learn that these drinks are essentially bathing their teeth with acid,” she noted. Researchers examined the acidity levels in 13 sports drinks and nine energy drinks. They found that the acidity levels could vary between brands of beverages and flavours of the same brand.

To test the effect of the acidity levels, the researchers immersed samples of human tooth enamel in each beverage for 15 minutes, followed by immersion in artificial saliva for two hours. This cycle was repeated four times a day for five days, and the samples were stored in fresh artificial saliva at all other times.

Damage caused to tooth enamel is irreversible, and without the protection of enamel, teeth become overly sensitive, prone to cavities, and more likely to decay.