New publications
Sports and energy drinks irreversibly damage teeth
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
American scientists (Southern Illinois University) made a statement: it turns out that drinking sports and energy drinks causes irreversible damage to teeth. Tooth enamel also suffers – and all because the listed drinks are highly acidic.
The younger generation, which willingly buys and enjoys drinking energy drinks, seriously believes that these drinks are better than other fizzy drinks, if only because they supposedly improve athletic performance (advertisements promise it...). But it is unlikely that young people know that by drinking another Red Bull, they have thoroughly rinsed their teeth in acid.
The researchers studied thirteen "sports" and nine energy drinks. It turned out that the acidity level varied between brands of drinks and between different drinks of the same brand. In an effort to find out what this meant, the researchers conducted an experiment: they dipped samples of human tooth enamel in each drink for a quarter of an hour. Then these same samples were dipped in artificial saliva for two hours. And so on four times a day for five days. The rest of the time, the enamel was in artificial saliva.
Result: after five days, the enamel was noticeably damaged. It turned out that energy drinks are more harmful than sports drinks - the damage from the former is twice as noticeable.
A small nuance: tooth enamel cannot be restored, that is, its damage is irreversible. And teeth that are not protected by enamel become more sensitive, and the risk of caries and other unpleasant things also increases.
According to statistics, in the United States alone, about half of all teenagers regularly consume energy drinks, of which about 60% do so daily. Dentists are sounding the alarm and strongly recommend reducing the consumption of these drinks to a minimum, and be sure to chew sugar-free gum or rinse your mouth with water after drinking. This helps to increase saliva production, as a result of which the acidity of the oral cavity returns to normal.
[ 1 ]