For years, dentists have warned people about drinking too many sugary soft drinks because of their harmful effects on teeth.
As more people switch to sparkling water, a new question has appeared. Is sparkling water actually safe for your teeth, or could the bubbles slowly wear away enamel?
A new investigation from Purdue University provides encouraging evidence that sparkling water is a much safer choice than sugary soda. The research will be presented at NUTRITION 2026, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition.
Every time we eat or drink, the environment inside the mouth changes. Saliva normally protects teeth by washing away food particles and helping to neutralise acids.
If acid levels become too high and remain there for long enough, enamel can begin to dissolve. This protective process makes saliva one of the body’s natural defences against tooth damage.
The researchers wanted to know how different drinks influenced saliva after people actually consumed them. Twenty adults tested four beverages on different occasions: plain water, sugar-sweetened soda, ordinary sparkling water, and sparkling water with added calcium. Saliva samples were collected several times after drinking each beverage.
The study showed that soda had the strongest effect on mouth acidity. The pH fell more than with any other drink, confirming previous evidence that sugary soft drinks place teeth under greater stress. Sparkling water also reduced pH for a short time, but the changes were smaller and disappeared fairly quickly.
Regular sparkling water lowered saliva pH within two minutes, while calcium-fortified sparkling water reached its lowest point a little later. In both cases, saliva gradually returned the mouth to almost its normal condition within around 20 minutes. This demonstrates how important healthy saliva is in protecting teeth after eating and drinking.
The researchers stressed that acidity is only one part of the story. Sugar content, drinking habits, oral hygiene, and how often someone consumes acidic drinks all influence the risk of enamel erosion. Constant sipping throughout the day exposes teeth to repeated acid attacks, while drinking with meals and maintaining good oral hygiene may reduce risk.
These findings are important because many people are trying to reduce sugar intake without giving up fizzy drinks. Choosing unsweetened sparkling water instead of sugary soda may lower both the risk of tooth damage and the health problems linked with excess sugar, including obesity and type 2 diabetes.
The scientists also suggested that beverage manufacturers could redesign drinks to make them less damaging to teeth. Adding protective ingredients or adjusting acidity may help reduce the erosive effects of some beverages without changing their taste too much.
The research team now plans to investigate the long-term effects of sparkling water on the mouth. Future studies will examine whether regular consumption changes bacteria, saliva, or other factors that influence oral health over months and years.
Overall, this study provides practical information that people can use in everyday life. Its greatest strength is that it measured saliva responses in real people rather than simply testing drinks in a laboratory. However, because the study was small and focused only on short-term changes, more research is needed before drawing final conclusions.
Even so, the evidence suggests that if you enjoy fizzy drinks, unsweetened sparkling water is likely to be a better choice for your teeth than sugary soft drinks.
If you care about health, please read studies that vitamin D can help reduce inflammation, and vitamin K could lower your heart disease risk by a third.
For more health information, please see recent studies about new way to halt excessive inflammation, and results showing foods that could cause inflammation.
Source: Purdue University.
