I’m an older dude with some tooth & gum issues and just consulted with my dentist. Wanted to share what he said…for info-tainment only. You will see that it relates to strength training.
For dental health, diet is equally or more important than your program (for hygiene). Sound familiar?
Diet -wise, the 2 worst things you can do are: frequent consumption of simple carbs (sugars), and frequent consumption of acidic or low-PH items.
Sugar stimulates the growth of bacterial plaque on your teeth.
Acid eats away at your teeth, and especially the roots.
Enamel is damaged at pH 5.5, exposed roots are damaged at a much milder pH 6.5.
Saying it positively, the 2 best things you can do are:
consume sugar-containing things infrequently, at most once per day, followed by hygiene (brush/floss)
consume acidic things infrequently, ditto
But the above is harder than it sounds.
Milk products count as a sugar - because of the lactose.
Fruits count as a sugar - because of the fructose.
Protein bars or drinks usually count as a sugar - because some kind of sugar, fruit or milk is usually in there.
Stir-fried vegetables count as a sugar - if you made your sauce with sugar, fruit or honey.
Coffee with milk or sugar counts as a sugar - obviously. Ditto for tea with honey.
But black coffee is no better, because it’s acidic.
“Diet” or non-sugar soft drinks are also still bad, because they’re acidic.
All this relates to strength training, because some of our practices conflict with the above.
Are you eating 5-6 meals per day, or frequent snacks? Oops.
Are you using a supplement product (such as Peri-Rx, a product from this site that I really like) containing citric acid? Oops.
If you consume sugar: some would suggest that you brush quickly afterward, UNLESS acid is involved.
If you consume acid (or sugar + acid): the suggestion would be to wait 30 minutes to brush, so that your tooth enamel can re-mineralize before you grind at it with toothpaste. Acid instantly de-mineralizes your tooth enamel.
*No (sugar). The yeast consume all the sugar and give you alcohol in return.
No (acid). Most only have a PH of 5-6. Varies by style. Dark malts generally more acidic. This can also be adjusted at the mash phase to help achieve the desired flavour profile in the beer.
Been hombrewing for years. Barely any fillings and no gum disease to show for it.
*Back sweetened beverages like most commercial ciders and ‘sweet’ stouts where sugar is added post fermentation in the former and un-fermentable milk sugar (lactose) is added to the boil in the latter aside.
I do agree with most of this, however those 2 points (and the one’s resulting from them) give me some food for thought. I agree that sugar (i.e. glucose) stimulates the growth of bacterial plaque. However, both lactose as well as fructose need to first be broken down to simpler sugars. I’m sure bacteria in the mouth is capable of doing it, however it probably takes time… time for your saliva, next eaten foods, drinks or brushing your teeth to flush down a lot of the present lactose or fructose.
Next up the resulting plaque causes the same problem of it being acidic and eroding the enamel… but with proper brushing etc. plaque should not be that big of a problem because it takes time to develop and would thus be dependent on one’s brushing/flossing habits. What is a problem however are the acidic drinks… sodas are super acidic from the start and attack the enamel right away. I’d say those are the biggest offenders out there with sugar being a far behind 2nd place.
I bought a pH tester on Amazon. First, some reminders for pH reference:
7.0 is neutral
6.5 or lower, attacks tooth dentin
5.5 or lower, attacks tooth enamel
Teh Interwebs say that soft drinks range from 2.5 to 4.7. Ditto for sports & energy drinks, fruit juices, tea, wine and beer. Black coffee tends to be around 5.
Teh Interwebs say that Coke Zero is 3.18
Just to check that my pH meter and testing procedure were reasonable, I tested Coke Zero myself and it came in around 3.3. Not too far off.
Finally - and here is the point - I tested the Peri-Rx supplement product, sold at this site (and which I love).
One scoop of Peri-Rx watermelon, dissolved in 8 oz. water, came in at pH 4.1. That is less bad than I feared. Still, it makes me want to ask why citric acid needs to be one of the product ingredients?