This is what soft drinks really do to your teeth, and it's so gross

You might want to put down that can...

Words by Jadie Troy-Pryde

It's hardly earth-shattering news that fizzy drinks are bad for us. We know they can be more calorific than alcohol and we're fully aware of the fact that there are about 7 teaspoons of sugar in a can of coke, but there's still nothing quite as satisfying as a hungover glug of the fizzy stuff.

But if you saw what these soft drinks were actually doing to your teeth, would it make you think twice before picking up a can?

Dentist Tom Bierman decided to illustrate exactly what happens to our gnashers when we drink too many sugary drinks, and the results he posted to figure1 are absolutely shocking.

Using three of his own wisdom teeth that had previously been removed, Dr Bierman conducted an experiment to see how a popular energy drink, a regular Coke and a Diet Coke would affect his teeth. He popped a tooth in each of the drinks, and a final fourth tooth was placed in a glass of water, because why not.

After two weeks he assessed the damage, and you actually won't believe what happened to them - it's truly disgusting.

The tooth bathing in Coke had turned almost completely black and the picture is making us wince.

The Diet Coke tooth 'didn't do much but was definitely stained,' which isn't much better.

But the tooth in the energy drink was so damaged - it had lost huge chunks of enamel and appeared rusty and pink.

'The rust colour seems to be where the tooth was more yellow to begin with,' Dr Bierman said. 'And then there are those alarming lumps of enamel that have come off the tooth.

'The enamel on this tooth was crumbling away - it had been a lot more destructive to the enamel than the cola tooth.'

It's gross enough to put you off fizzy drinks forever...