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When browsing the beverage aisle on your next trip to the local supermarket, you owe it to your health to ask yourself an important question: Should you be stocking up on carbonated drinks and soft drink? Did you know that soft drinks are also known as empty calories? Empty calories refer to foods that contain no nutritional value. Soft drinks are also loaded with sugar and bad carbs. Besides being detrimental to your overall health, they can also damage your teeth.
Some soft drinks contain as much as 20 teaspoons of sugar in a 600ml can – one teaspoon is equivalent to 4.762 grams. Just imagine spooning 20 teaspoons of sugar into a drink and handing it to your child. You may be shocked by how much sugar you are drinking. And that’s just the amount of sugar in one can of soft drink! The worst part is that such drinks are typically served alongside a high-calorie meal at your favourite fast food restaurant. The results are pretty dire as you can expect. Let’s look at the problems that arise from a “soft drink culture”.

Obesity

In Australia, 63 per cent of adults and 1 in 4 children, are said to be obese or overweight. These numbers will continue to rise if the soft drink culture is not curbed.
Fructose in sugar is the main culprit for a protruding belly. It stores body fat around the waistline and other organs in the form of visceral fat. Consistently high amounts of visceral fat – that can result in metabolic diseases – are found in people who drink high-fructose soft drinks and carbonated beverages.

Diabetes

The intake of high fructose beverages has also been found to increase the risk of developing adult-onset diabetes. According to a research study by Harvard University, people who drink 1-2 cans of soft drink per day are 26% more likely to develop type-2 diabetes.

Heart Disease and Cancer

Drinking soft drink has also been linked to higher risks of medical conditions like high triglyceride levels and high cholesterol readings, both of which have been thought to increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Studies also show that people who consume soft drink had an 89% risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

Dental Health

Due to the high concentrations of both sugar and acid, drinking soft drink can also damage your teeth. Frequent intakes of both sugar and acid can lead to a greater incidence of dental caries and erosion of the surface of your teeth. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help switching to diet and sugar free alternatives either, as even though diet soft drinks have a reduced sugar content, they are still highly acidic and can erode your tooth enamel. The phosphoric acid in soft drink breaks down the calcium in the enamel of your teeth, reducing the hard outer protective layer, which increases your risk of tooth wear, tooth decay and tooth sensitivity.

Looking for a trusted dentist to help you achieve a beautiful and healthy smile? Contact one of our nib dental care centres  today or visit our website nibdental.com.au

 Wisdom teeth, also referred to as third molars, are found towards the back of your mouth in the four corners of each arch. They typically emerge during your late adolescent years, between 17 to 25 years of age. Some wisdom teeth erupt without any concerns and function normally as other teeth do. The problem with wisdom teeth usually arises when there is not enough room for them to erupt and they become impacted. An impacted wisdom tooth either fails to completely break through the gums or remains fully embedded below the gum line, and often at an angle which prevents it from erupting into the mouth.

Depending on the tooth position and level of impaction of the tooth, you may or may not feel discomfort from the impaction. If the tooth develops lying sideways or at an angle, it can push against other permanent molars (back teeth) and cause pain. You can also get pain associated with your wisdom tooth due to infection, food trapping around a partially erupted wisdom tooth, tender gums/cheeks as the tooth erupts or where a cyst develops around the unerupted tooth.

Because wisdom teeth commonly lack space to erupt without concerns, your dentist will want to check the development of these teeth on a regular basis from about the age of 16 years onwards.   This will involve inspecting your mouth and jaws and taking x-rays. X-rays will help your dentist view the shape and angulation of the developing tooth as well as its location in relation to surrounding structures including other teeth and underlying nerves. If there are concerns, your dentist may recommend removal of one or more wisdom teeth. Where your dentist does recommend removal of wisdom teeth, they may recommend having it done while the patient is still young. It is often easier to remove these teeth before the roots fully develop and while the bone is less dense. As we age, our bone becomes more dense.

The complexity of the procedure to remove wisdom teeth often relates to the type of impaction – for example, vertical, horizontal or angular bone impaction. Depending on the type and extent of impaction, as well as underlying factors pertaining to the individual patient, some wisdom teeth are removed in one session and others over separate appointments. Some patients elect to have the procedure done under general anaesthetic in a hospital setting and depending upon the complexity of the surgery, patients may be referred to a specialist. Your dentist however is in the best position to advise you regarding the status of your wisdom teeth and can provide you with all available options should removal be recommended.

Not sure whether or not to remove your wisdom teeth?

Contact one of our friendly dentists at your closest nib Dental Care Centre for a wisdom tooth evaluation today.