What is kombucha doing to your teeth?
Vice is writing about it. Salon is writing about it. PopSugar is writing about it. About billion other dental offices are writing about it. So we’ll bite, too. Kombucha. Is this popular probiotic-packed drink bad for your teeth? The short answer is, it’s not great. As we’ve covered before, any food or drink with a low pH has the potential to create an acidic environment in your mouth. And kombucha has a low pH. For comparison, water is neutral and has a relatively high pH of 7.0. Kombucha has a pH level between 2.5 and 3.5. Ideally, the pH of saliva lies within the range of 5.5–6.5; and a 5.5 generally is accepted as the threshold level for the development of cavities. As you can probably imagine, a consistently acidic environment can reek havoc on your oral wellness by allowing bacteria to flourish and cause decay. Tooth enamel begins to dissolve at a pH of around 4.0 so in extreme cases, the acid in drinks can even start to etch away the surface layers of your enamel. If you’re not ready to give up your kombucha habit yet, these are our pro-hacks for minimizing the impact on your teeth:
- Drinking in one sitting, rather than sipping over an extended period of time
- Using a straw to minimize the kombucha’s contact with your teeth
- Rinsing your teeth with water right away to help minimize how the acids are allowed to linger in your mouth
- Using a toothpaste that contains fluoride to help remineralize any areas affected by acid
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