Everyone knows that drinking too many sugary soft-drinks is bad for your teeth, but one Australian dental patient has found that out the hard way, after losing all his teeth due to drinking between six and eight litres of soft drink every day. Twenty-five year old William Kennewell chose to ignore dentist’s warning that the addiction would cost him his teeth and has undergone dental treatment to remove the remaining teeth and replace them with a denture.
William also suffered with blood poisoning because of the extensive decay, he explains that he only had thirteen teeth left after years of drinking fizzy pop and they all had to be taken out due to extreme decay. He goes on to say that his addiction started because he didn’t like drinking water and, working in the hospitality industry, he had easy access to Coke and other carbonated soft drinks. Luckily, William’s health is now improving after the extractions, thanks to a denture.
Researchers at the Australian Research Centre have called for stronger warnings on food and drink labels to identify products that leave the consumer at greater risk of tooth decay. However, Australian Beverages Council chief executive Geoff Parker said that it was more important to instil good oral hygiene habits into children, commenting that ‘singling out one particular part of the diet is a misguided approach to dealing with an issue such as dental hygiene.’