Your Sparkling Water Obsession May Be Ruining Your Smile

Are you sitting at your desk, pondering the meaning of life as you cool off with an ice-cold can of coconut-flavored LaCroix? Well, put it down. Right now. Drinking Perrier? Stop. San Pellegrino? Delete. Canada Dry? Girl, no.

Just when we thought we were helping, not hurting, our bodies by feeding them sparkling water, it turns out it's not so great for you. Yes, the can that goes "pop!" every morning, afternoon, sometimes evening (is that just me?) could potentially be changing the shape of your teeth. According to Dr. Edmond R. Hewlett, a spokesperson for the American Dental Association, the varying degrees of acid in similarly packed substances can lead to the "erosion of tooth enamel." To our ears, that equates to messed up teeth.

In addition to the carbonation, flavoring in sparkling water also lowers the PH levels and causes an increase in acidity. Thankfully, it's not as bad as drinking sodas like Diet Coke. To put it in science terms, it boils down to "the incremental dissolving away of the enamel on the teeth, which, over time, can affect their structural integrity, making them hypersensitive to temperature and potentially more cavity-prone," Dr. Hewlett told The Washington Post.

So what are we addicts supposed to do? Hewlett suggests drinking flavored sparkling water faster, to reduce the amount of time it spends on your teeth, which helps. The best tip, however, is to keep it old school: "The best beverage you can drink is plain fluoridated water," he says.