Being a family dentist in Stafford TX we know that people place a special trust in our abilities to take care of their teeth. Families, from generation to generation, come to us with all their needs and strive to understand what they can do to make their own oral health better. Over the years we have learned that prevention is always better than cure, which is why we work very diligently to educate you about the things that can damage your teeth, cause you to lose your enamel, or in other ways harm your oral health. Sometimes these conversations are simple, as when we are talking about taking proper care of your teeth through routine oral hygiene habits, such as brushing your teeth on a regular basis for at least 2 minutes a side. At other times, we have to have conversations that are more complicated because they involve doing something most people hate doing, changing their habits. For example, people who are rigorous about brushing their teeth and coming in to see their family dentist in Stafford TX may not know that the drinks they are consuming are having a negative impact on their family's oral health. Things like pH levels can play a critical part in how the food you put into your mouth affects the outcome of your teeth. Which naturally raises the question, what are pH levels and how can the pH levels in drinks affect the enamel of your family's teeth?

Let's start out with the basics, pH levels refer to how acidic a substance is. Substances with a lower pH level are considered in chemistry to be acidic, and substances with a higher pH level tend to be alkaline. As a family dentist in Stafford TX, we know that water is the most base of substances, which is what we base our evaluation of how alkaline or acidic a substance is. Water has a pH level of 7 and is what we always recommend that you drink. However, people drink a lot of different things and so it is important that you know that enamel dissolves when it comes in contact with any substance that has a pH level that is lower than 5.50, while dentine dissolves when it comes in contact with a substance that has a pH level that is lower than 6.50. Given that water has a pH level of 7, anything more acidic than water should not be left in contact with your teeth for any length of time.

Some of the things that patients at the family dentist in Stafford TX drink includes soda. When it comes to drinks, soda is probably the most dangerous. For example, the three most popular sodas are Coca-Cola, root beer, and Dr. Pepper. Coca-Cola has a pH level of 2.56 which means it is actually closer to battery acid (with a pH level of 0.00) than water. Root beer has a pH level of 4.75 while Dr. Pepper has a pH level of 2.89.