Unexpected Damage
Despite her dedication to staying fit and healthy, and attending the dentist regularly, our patient found her teeth aging at an accelerated rate. The deterioration was concerning and she didn’t know why.
There are few people who are as fastidious with their health as our patient. Despite her dedication to staying fit and healthy and attending the dentist regularly, she found her teeth aging at an accelerated rate. The deterioration was concerning, and she didn't know why. On the surface, our patient had an attractive smile. However, a closer look revealed a lot of lifestyle damage. Dr Andrea Shepperson diagnosed dental erosion – an acid attack that dissolves tooth enamel. The culprit – lemon juice in hot water, used as a health tonic and consumed daily.
Accelerated damage with acid erosion
Lemon juice had dissolved thin areas of enamel, speeding up wear caused by grinding and brushing, creating sensitive groooves at the gumline, hollows and craters on teeth and a change in colour.
How Does Lemon Juice Attack Teeth?
Citric acid, the potent acid in lemons and most citrus fruit, bonds to calcium in tooth enamel and dissolves it.
Some of the signs can be:
A gradual yellowing of teeth.
Loss of very thin enamel at the gum line and resulting sensitivity.
Hollows and potholes form on the biting edges or surfaces of teeth.
A glossy look to teeth with loss of their texture.
Teeth becoming very transparent.
Once enamel is lost, it can only be replaced artificially. This results in significant reconstruction treatment and costs using tooth-colored dental materials.
Our Solution
Our primary goal was to repair damage caused by lemon juice. This involved rebuilding worn shapes and restoring the worn bite. We lifted the colour, adding whiter shades back again. At the same time, we placed protective porcelain veneers and crowns, and we enhanced our patient's natural beauty, using a blend of engineering, biology, and art to manage both bite reconstruction and smile makeover.
Yellow, acid-damaged teeth were restored with enhanced colours, using natural shapes that were complimentary with the patients face, lips and smile .
“I was self-conscious about my smile for years. Andrea and the Team at Lumino City Dental have changed my smile - and my health."
The Risk of Lemon Juice & Other Health Tonics
There is a lot of discussion about the digestive benefits of lemon juice and the benefits of getting a dose of Vitamin C. How do we stay healthy without harming our teeth?
Our best advice is to limit your intake and have lemon juice in water with other food. This will help to neutralize the acid, and stimulate saliva to repair teeth damaged in a transient way. Some people drink it through a straw so their teeth are not coated in the solution.
The key is also to give your teeth a rest. Avoid sipping on acidic drinks, such as lemon juice, in water throughout the day; don’t add it to water bottles.
Use a small dose of Tooth Mousse to boost calcium levels quickly and elevate the pH of the mouth.
Rinse with soda water, which is full of neutralizing bicarbonate, after drinking lemon juice in water. It is cheap and available. If you have a high-pH mouthwash, it’s fine to use this too. Your dentist can advise on suitable products to use.