Is sour candy bad for your teeth?

The mouth-puckering taste of sour candies made them a favorite for many people, particularly children. Similar to sweet candies, most sour candies also come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and forms as sour gummies, sour jellies, sour hard candy, etc.

As the sour candies are made from a combination of fruits with a tart flavor, the sour taste comes from organic acids found in those fruits such as citric acid, malic acid, and others. Even though the sour candies have minor health benefits, they are usually mitigated by the flavorings added.

If you believe that sour candies would not create cavities like sweet candies, you are wrong my friend. Sugar candies, in fact, have detrimental effects on teeth but many people are unaware of this.

How do sour candies affect teeth?

Besides fruit-based mixtures, most sour candies contain additives like gelatin, palm oil, and a small amount of sugar. Despite having a little proportion of sugar, sour candies contain higher levels of acids compared to other types of candy.

Remember that acidic substances, when combined with sugar molecules, can cause double the damage to your teeth. It begins with decreasing the pH value inside your mouth.

The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14. 7 is the ideal pH value for our mouth whilst our saliva holds a pH value between 6.2 and 7.6. As water has a neutral pH value, it can lessen the acidic environment in your mouth. This is why dentists advise people to drink more water. dental damages like cavities would occur when water and saliva cannot neutralize the pH inside the mouth.

Acidic substances have a pH value less than 7, whereas alkaline substances have a pH value greater than 7. Sour candies have a pH value of around 4 hence that they can cause an atmosphere that allows bacteria to breed. Needless to say, oral microorganisms produce acidic wastes that are hard on your teeth and encourage decalcification.

A combination of these will have various damaging effects on your teeth.

What are the dental dilemmas caused by sour candies?

Even though the acids in most sour candies are safe to eat, they would annihilate the healthy bacteria (for instance, lactobacilli). Such good bacteria tend to neutralize the mouth and fight against harmful microbes. Furthermore, the acids weaken the enamel so that various oral complications will occur. Here are a few:

• Enamel erosion
• Cavities
• Teeth sensitivity
• Plaque build-up
• Bad breath
• Teeth discoloration

Tips to protect your teeth if you cannot avoid sour candies

If sour candy is your favorite and feels hard to avoid, then limit the amount of candy you consume. If sour candy is your favorite and feel difficult to avoid it, then limit your candy intake. It applies to sweet candies as well.

Take sugarless chewing gum instead. They induce the salivary glands to produce more saliva. Moreover, the xylitol in these gums does not produce any acid and prohibits microbes from sticking over the teeth surfaces.

Rinse your mouth effectively after eating acidic foods and drinks. If you feel the candy stick in the crevices in your teeth, don’t brush immediately to get rid of it. This is because the acidic compounds would soften the enamel. If you brush them, enamel damage will occur. So brush your teeth at least 1 hour after eating sour candies.

Bottom line

Don’t assume the sour candies do not contain sugar just because they are sour. They feed oral bacteria with their acidic compounds and sugar particles so that the bacterial attacks triggered by sour candies are more dangerous than sugar candies.