Health: Brush, Floss And Gargle ... With Root Beer?

Each year Americans drink, on average, nearly 600 cans of soda apiece. What does that do to their teeth? Professor J. Anthony von Fraunhofer of the University of Maryland Dental School decided to find out. Fraunhofer and dental student Matthew Rogers took 20 healthy teeth extracted for orthodontic or periodontal reasons, cut them into tiny blocks of tooth enamel and exposed the blocks to a variety of popular soft drinks, including Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper, Sprite, Canada Dry ginger ale and canned Arizona iced tea. All the drinks weakened or permanently destroyed the enamel. Diet sodas were just as bad as regular sodas, and canned iced tea caused 30 times the damage of fresh-brewed tea or coffee. The worst offenders were noncolas like Mountain Dew, which caused two to five times as much damage as the cola drinks. The main culprit in this dental destruction, says Fraunhofer, is the presence of chemicals, such as citric, malic and tartaric acids, that are added to impart tartness to the drinks. Of the soft drinks tested, the one that caused virtually no harm to teeth was A&W root beer. Reason: it has the fewest flavor additives.

--By David Bjerklie