How do different types of water affect your teeth?
It’s obvious that what you eat, and drink affects the health of your mouth. Almost everyone knows that fizzy drinks and fruit juice can be bad for your teeth because of various sugars plus their acidic content. However, what you might not know is that even the type of water can affect your dental health. Here’s a breakdown of types of water and what they’re doing to your teeth and gums:
Bottled water
Bottled water is the popular upmarket choice for lots of people, with many of us noting the superior taste, however, bottled water isn’t as well-regarded by your teeth.
The first thing to remember is that bottled water is susceptible to bacteria once you break the seal, especially if it’s allowed to warm up to room temperature. You often drink tap water in one sitting whereas that bottled water in your bag isn’t doing much good for your dental hygiene.
Most bottled water also lacks fluoride, an essential part of dental health. If you drink mostly bottled water, you might want to consider adding a fluoride supplement to your diet. That way you can drink as much bottled water as you like and still keep your teeth happy.
Filtered tap water
Filtered tap water is becoming increasing popular in recent years. It can be dispensed straight from your tap or from a filter jug, and many people feel like they’re doing this as a healthy alternative to straight tap water. But unfortunately, filtered water isn’t as wonderful as it’s made out to be.
The filtration process can get rid of fluoride and other essential components for a healthy set of teeth. Whilst some filters allow fluoride through or add it back after the filtering process is complete, you should make sure that yours does to make sure you’re getting a good dose of fluoride.
Straight tap water
Chemicals, vitamins, and minerals are essential to tap water - they help to maintain the hygienic value of the water for those who drink it. This same mixture of compounds is one of the reasons that people turn away from tap water, however, lots of these additions improve dental health, including fluoride (which strengthens teeth), and chlorine (which kills bacteria).
If you’re concerned about the health of your teeth and don’t want to add fluoride to your diet, tap water is the way to go.
Distilled water
The final water type available is distilled water and it is considered to be one of the purest. This water is devoid of all chemicals, vitamins, and minerals. While distilled water is not harmful to your bodily health, it isn’t going to do your teeth any good. Distilled water drinkers will have to rely on some extra supplements to protect your teeth, otherwise you’ll be susceptible to cavities and tooth decay.
The spill
Drinking enough water is essential to your health, and any type of safe water is far better than not drinking water at all. Those of you who are teeth-conscious should drink water that contains fluoride - this doesn’t mean sacrificing your favourite branded water or favourite filtering system, it means making sure that you mix your water types up across the week. Brushing and flossing are vital to maintaining healthy teeth, but next time you’re reaching for some water perhaps take a moment to think about how it’s affecting your dental health.
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