Choose water instead of juice or other sweetened drinks for healthy teeth, a healthy body and a healthy Bermuda.

This message is being promoted by the Oral Health Section of the Department of Health as part of Oral Health Awareness Month, which is running this month.

“People will be surprised how much sugar is in some beverages,” senior dental officer Celia Nzabalinda told The Royal Gazette.

“People don’t realise that juice often contains just as much sugar as soda.

“When people drink sweetened beverages between their meals, they are increasing the number of acid attacks and they are increasing the chances that they will develop decay. We’re encouraging the Bermuda public for healthy teeth, a healthy body and a healthy Bermuda to choose water.”

Dr Nzabalinda said the Oral Health Section has been focusing on the theme because it aligns with the health department’s “wildly important goal” of halting the rise of obesity, while also helping to reduce dental decay.

“Every time a patient comes in for a checkup we talk to them about juice versus water and what we see is that the nutrition policy is doing very well in the schools,” she added.

“At every opportunity we encourage parents to decrease juice and soda consumption at home.”

According to Dr Nzabalinda, the mouth is normally alkaline. It becomes acidic for a brief time after eating or drinking because the bacteria in the mouth produces acid as they digest the sugars.

“While it’s in that acid state, the acids have the ability to begin to soften the enamel, a very, very thin layer of the enamel, but because they return to an alkali state that process is reversed.”

But if people eat or drink frequently, Dr Nzabalinda said “they’re not giving their mouth a break” and it becomes “more and more acidic, which leads to greater softening of the enamel and eventually, if this is done on a regular basis, the enamel becomes softened to the point where a hole appears”.

“In terms of decay, any simple sugar has the capacity to increase the acidity in the mouth. With teeth, the main issue we are looking at is the frequency of sugar exposures that people have.”

But she added that there were also other benefits to choosing water.

“By not drinking sweetened beverages, you’re reducing your caloric intake, so it also ties into halting the rise of obesity,” she said.

Dr Nzabalinda recommends that instead of drinking juice, children and adults should instead eat the fruit. One orange contains the daily recommended amount of vitamin C, she said, adding that it “takes quite a few oranges to make a glass of orange juice and when people are consuming orange juices, very often they are consuming significantly more of the orange juice than they actually need”.

“By eating the fresh fruit they will get the vitamins that they need without having all of the extra sugar.”