Are juice diets damaging your teeth?

Juice diets are the next big thing in healthy living as the market explodes with hoards of curious customers seeking weight loss or a healthy lifestyle. Recently well-known celebrities including Ed Sheeran and Katie Price have also dedicated their diets to natural juices, consuming nothing but nature’s nectar for as long as two weeks.

However, juice diets are not entirely beneficial and can harm teeth in a number of ways, increasing the likelihood of dental problems.

While the diet promises to provide your body with powerful nutrients and antioxidants, the sugar and acids found in fruit juices in particular, can erode tooth enamel which gradually works to shorten teeth, causing a person to look older than their years. The action of the sugar along with the stress that comes with dieting makes also makes people more likely to grind their teeth which further wears them down.

So how can you benefit from the diet while causing minimal damage to your teeth? Ideally, you should stay away from fruit juices and stick to green vegetable drinks as you will still benefit from a wide range of nutrients including vitamin A, vitamin C, beta carotene, calcium and magnesium. Vegetables including broccoli are also high in phosphorus and this nutrient is stored in your teeth and bones to help maintain body balance.

You should also use a straw to avoid the liquid having direct contact with your teeth. In addition, it takes 45 minutes for sugar and acid to wear off from your teeth and so you should finish the drink in one go rather than sipping on it over a longer period.