Our General Dentist in Peoria Shows that Diet Substitutions May Still be Dangerous

Products may not always be what they seem. And although warning and nutritional labels are required on more items than ever before, evidence shows that most people still do not pay an extreme amount of attention towards them.

Of these, there is one item in particular that our general dentist in Peoria is questioned about commonly. It has a relatively innocent name that should be doing you good… but could it have less known factors that are negatively impacting your oral health?

Today, we take on diet soda.

Diet soda typically gets its prefix by having low or zero calories due to a switch from real sugar to artificial sweeteners. And while this switch may seem heavenly to those patients who love soda but don’t want to suffer from the sugary side effects, another ingredient can be overlooked: acid content.

Many diet sodas are just as acidic as their regular counterparts. Highly acidic beverages can be just as harmful as highly sugary ones, as they erode the enamel of the teeth overtime. This can lead to issues with tooth decay, disease and worse if left untreated.

Unfortunately, the warning list for artificial sweeteners does not end there. Studies have also found that prolonged use of these can result in diabetes, chronic migraine, depression or even, ironically, weight gain- not loss.

As a result, many companies are looking into new ways of sweetening beverages that could be potentially healthier for your teeth and body. However, in the way these things often go, we may not find out the long-term effects for some years from now…way after it has been on the market.

For more information on the harmful effects of seemingly harmless items like diet soda and more, call our general dentist in Peoria for an appointment today at (309) 688-7321.