Teeth and acid?!

[muah]

OK, so I read over the internet and I watched a dentist on TV talking about eating fruits after meal to take care of teeth and I did a little research. Most of the information I found was the opposite of what the dentist said. If you search for yourselves you'll know what I'm talking about. Everybody is saying how fruit acids (like lemon juice) are so bad for your teeth that they will eventually broke, except one article! Only one for an hour search and here it is: ACID BAD FOR THE TEETH? NOT AT ALL, SAYS CHEMIST; Dr. William J. Gies ... - Article Preview - The New York Times

After I read that article I figured out that there can be major mistake somewhere, eather the whole dental industry or that guy from the article, because both are the opposite and both are claiming similar things. For me I'm not really sure it's the guy from the article, because I take a good care of my teeth and I have a lot of small cavities (like 15 and more) I don't have bad stuff on my teeth or lost ones but why is that!? Some people don't go to dentist for 15 years and they don't have even one. Never mind that, I was curious about it and I found something interesting to discuss. And just because the modern dental care don't work good enough for me I'll try the advices in this article. I'm taking a risk I know, but someone gotta do it.

[funchy]

But that article was written in 1913. Chemistry and biology have come a long way. The first ADA-approved toothpaste didn't come on the scene until the 1940s. Plastic toothbrushes were also a newer invention.

Tooth decay comes from bacteria growing on bits of food (namely carbohydrates). Our diet is more and more refined & simple sugar, junk foods, and soda.

Acid is bad for the teeth. Stomach acid, either through bad acid reflux or through bulimia, is shown to damage teeth. People with serious bulimic problems (eg. horseracing jockeys), literally have all their teeth rotten away.

[Cran]

Having bad teeth is not necessarily a result of poor diet or denta health. Many people have weak dentin from birth, some children get cavities as early as three years old without ever having juice/tea with sugar out of a bottle.
Some tooth pastes and mouth washes claim to strengthen teeth enamel, well, supposedly, it works for some people.
How different teeth are can be illustrated by an easily (for me) accesible example: Myself. Funchy mentioned the negative influence of bulimia (stomac acid) on the teeth, and he is right. I have bulimia myself, and had it for over ten years now. I do not purge regularly or frequently anymore, but I did so daily for years. My teeth do not show it. A friend had bulimia for less than two years, and ehr teeth break regularly, they didn't do that before.
Obviously, my teeth are just stronger than hers, because we compared and took the same care of them and eating roughly the same foods (junk.food, sweets).

About the acid:
I agree, it is bad for the teeth. But fruits are in my opinion way better than suggary junk-foods etc., and an aplle is a better dessert than chocolate, the acid content is relatively low and you have food to "work" on.
Wait with brushing for some time after eaten acidic food.

[air nomad]

If you're really concerned, you could just rinse your mouth with baking soda+water to neutralize the acid after you eat the fruit.

[muah]

Originally Posted by funchy

But that article was written in 1913. Chemistry and biology have come a long way. The first ADA-approved toothpaste didn't come on the scene until the 1940s. Plastic toothbrushes were also a newer invention.

Tooth decay comes from bacteria growing on bits of food (namely carbohydrates). Our diet is more and more refined & simple sugar, junk foods, and soda.

Acid is bad for the teeth. Stomach acid, either through bad acid reflux or through bulimia, is shown to damage teeth. People with serious bulimic problems (eg. horseracing jockeys), literally have all their teeth rotten away.

You're right about that, I didn't paid attention to the date.

But after all the guy is talking about the effect on fruit acids on the teeth including lemon acid that are known as bad at that time. I used some lemon after meal and I can say it makes you salivate a lot an hour after I ate it. The lemon juice is on the teeth for seconds and it's neutralized by the saliva but the salivating continues hours after that.

I'll try to find more on the thread but for now I'm continuing with my experiment.

[barrie07]

it breaks my heart to hear u have bulimia cran.

I had bulimia for 10.5years.
i am now 23 and havent been sick for 6 months.

I am still very slim and have issues with food, however I have stopped the urge to wana be sick.

if u need help i am here.

I felt sick 20+ times a day and I do have some teeth damage but they are still stronger than many who have never been bulimia.

[Cran]

Barrie, thank you for your kind offer, but to nip this offer and fruther like this in the bud: I have NO INTEREST in any help or change of my eating behavior.

Thank you.