Juicing can destroy your teeth!
It’s unfortunate that many health fads that may have some benefits never discuss the risks or cons of those habits. Throughout my career, I have witnessed how juicing can quickly destroy your teeth! Even though there are obvious nutritional benefits from increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables, the use of juicing to accomplish this has quite a negative effect on your dental health.
Bacteria in your mouth metabolize carbohydrates (fruits and vegetables have various amount of carbs, fruits more so because of fructose sugars). These bacteria produce acids as their waste products. This acidifies your mouth for 20 minutes from every sip until you are done and then your saliva takes 20 minutes to buffer your mouth back to a neutral state.
In addition, many fruits and vegetables are acidic in and of themselves like citric fruits, tomatoes, etc. This means that upon juicing you are doing a direct acid wash of your teeth which demineralizes (softens) your enamel over and over until it weakens to a point where a hole forms (cavity). This also happens from coffee, tea and most carbonated beverages INCLUDING diet sodas.
I recommend to all of my patients that when you are done drinking coffee, tea, juices, sodas to thoroughly rinse with water to flush the acids away and start the neutralization process. This does not fully neutralize your mouth, just jump starts the process. The use of xylitol gum or candies right after eating or drinking anything other than water also helps cut down on acid formation. (look for my blog on xylitol on this site). Never brush your teeth directly after and wait 20 minutes because you will be brushing acidic saliva and increasing the acid wash of your enamel.
So do increase your fruit and vegetable intake but in their natural form along with a meal or if snacking, some fruits or vegeatables will not be as intensely acidic as juicing especially if you flush with water afterwards. I recall one long term patient of mine who came every 6 months and at one checkup, had so much decay suddenly that he needed her $30,000 worth of dentistry to repair it all.
For more information, you can contact Dr. Michael Krochak at
drk@nycsmilespa.com
NYC Smile Spa
30 E. 60th St., Rm 1201
New York, NY 10022
