‘Every morning I have sliced lemon in my water’ sound familiar?
We often have patients coming in to us that have suffered erosion on their teeth and they are unaware of the cause. We all hear about the benefits of infusing our water with fruit; such as it helps digestion, it’s good for your skin, but nobody tells us about the negative effects. A lot of fruit contains citric acid, lemon especially is very good at wearing away the enamel on your teeth. This can then lead to a whole number of complications such as tooth sensitivity.
If you really can’t bear to give it up then follow the steps below to help minimise the negative effects that lemon water can have:
- Don’t drink hot lemon water, instead leave it to cool down to room temperature.
- Don’t sip it, drink it all at once.
- Never brush your teeth immediately after drinking it, citric acid softens tooth enamel so brushing them straight after can wear the enamel down. Wait at least 30 minutes after until brushing.
- Use a straw.
A little bit of advice – just drink water! It has plenty of health benefits without the added negative side effects.