[question] Question submitted by: Teo Yeok Tee, Singapore. When I first started drinking wine, my favourite was chilled white, regardless of the meal, since I simply could not stand the bitter taste of the red. Unfortunately, after about a year of regular drinking, one evening when I had a bite onto the thick meat of a piece of pork rib, one of my lower front teeth broke in half. I did not bite onto the bone at all. Later on my friend told me that my teeth was weakened and broke because I regularly drank white wine. From then on, I stopped drinking white because I cannot afford to break another tooth! Please confirm if it is true that white wine can corrode the drinker’s teeth? Is there a way of drinking white wines without loosing my teeth? [/question] [answer] Thanks for this question! It has been rushed to the top of the pile! While I have never before heard of an incidence through which wine has been blamed for a tooth breaking in two, there is indeed plenty of truth in the notion that if you drink a lot of wine, you do have to take some care with your teeth. This is why when you see photographs of winemakers and wine writers, they usually smile with their mouths closed! The blackened grin I now wear after tasting twenty or so decent reds has become rather a source of amusement for my friends. The low pH (high acidity) of wine softens tooth enamel, something our far-seeing Creator has yet to find a way of naturally replenishing. The acidity of white wine is generally significantly higher than that for red. So, when at the end of a long session people think to brush away the red and purple stains on their teeth, it’s an alarming reality that they’re actually scrubbing away their tooth enamel and calcium. Sooner or later, you get down to the sensitive dentine itself, which apparently is no fun at all. So, wine tasters should carefully consider when they brush their teeth and how. Never brush your teeth immediately after a tasting. I try to remember to apply a high-fluoride toothpaste (Colgate actually makes one) to my teeth. I do this by simply rubbing it on with a finger. It takes out red colour immediately and readjusts the pH of the enamel, hardening them in the process. I used to make a rinse of water and sodium bicarbonate, but this is a little more palatable. Importantly, I only clean my teeth very lightly that night, but a non-abrasive toothpaste. Paste is less abrasive than gel. Another tip is to eat an apple or two immediately after tasting. This in itself can remove much of the immediate staining without any damage and will certainly freshen the mouth in a natural way. In Australia, I can get from my dentist a high-fluoride paste called Tooth Mousse. It’s made in Japan by GC Corporation. It releases bio-available calcium and phosphate, and when used for some time, can actually re-mineralise teeth that have had their enamel eroded through wine drinking. I swear by it. It can be applied in two main ways and I use both. Firstly, a short measure (about (1 cm) of the gel can be applied to a toothbrush for a very gentle clean immediately after tasting. I would only do this after a decent rinse with the bicarb to make sure the teeth are now damaged by even this gentle clean. Secondly, it can be applied in a splint (like a mouthguard but from clear rubber) which a dentist can manufacture to precisely fit your mouth. I only need one for my top layer of teeth, since that’s where most of the damage resides. While it’s a little difficult to spread the mousse evenly over the splint (which could be fixed easily if its makers redesigned the means of application), a little Tooth Mousse along the length of the splint should be given a minimum of an hour’s contact with the teeth. Or, you might decide to sleep with the thing on, giving a longer period of contact and remineralisation. The choice is up to you. The advice in this column is of no value to the overwhelming majority of wine drinkers, since they will never enter the dental danger zone into which my activities have dumped me. So, don’t rush out and panic over this one. As for our correspondent, while it’s perhaps unlikely that a wine-related weakening of tooth enamel would cause a tooth to snap in the manner described, he has touched on a valid area of concern for heavy drinkers or regular tasters. [/answer]
