Can the Acid in Drinks Really Weaken Your Teeth? | Science-U

When you drink a soft drink, juice, or sports drink, do you ever wonder what it’s doing to your teeth? These drinks are often filled with acid. Teeth are covered in enamel, which protects your teeth, but is that enamel strong enough to protect your teeth from the impacts of the acid? Watch this video on PBS LearningMedia and discover with this experiment whether acid weakens your teeth or not. Then, use the results so you can properly take care of your teeth. 

In this experiment, the kids take drinks such as orange juice, a soft drink, a sports drink, and lemonade and test the Ph levels. The lower the number a drink receives, the more powerful the acid in the drink is. Then, the kids soaked teeth in each of these drinks for five days to see how the drinks impact the teeth.

After the five days were up, they inspected the teeth, how they’ve changed color, and then tested to see if they could remove the enamel from the teeth. They found that teeth soaked in water still had tough enamel, but teeth soaked in a soft drink were able to have the surface of their enamel scratched. And after 90 days of being soaked in a soft drink, all of the tooth’s enamel will have been removed!

After watching this video, conduct the experiment yourself to see the results! But, after having learned what acid does to your teeth, make healthy choices when it comes to choosing what to drink, and make sure to brush your teeth after drinking something acidic to protect your enamel! Share this video with a friend or family member so they can see what happens when your teeth are exposed to acid. Keep your teeth happy and healthy by making healthy choices!