Do you consume most of your drinks with a straw? If you do, you are doing your oral health a good deed. Drinking through a straw is more than a convenient way to drink something; it helps to reduce the risk of tooth decay and gum disease. If you are not a regular straw user, you might want to start in order to benefit your oral health. There are many benefits that you can realize by choosing to drink through a straw, rather than straight from the cup.
When you drink, your teeth are covered in the liquid exposing your entire mouth to sugars and acids. If you drink through a straw, you control how the liquid gets down your throat, minimizing the risk of the liquid coating your teeth, allowing you to reduce your risk of cavities from drinking.
Certain drinks, such as tea and cola, tend to stain your enamel. If you consume these drinks often, the acids can wear away your enamel, leaving you with dark spots on your teeth. If you use a straw to drink these items, you reduce the amount of acids that touch the front of your teeth, leaving your teeth looking pearly white.
When you drink at a restaurant, you expose your mouth to certain bacteria. While you would hope that every glass is thoroughly washed and free from germs, there are certain airborne germs as well as those that the glass comes into contact with from being handled that will be there. Rather than putting your mouth directly on the glass, use a straw to keep your mouth free from those germs.
