Why Your Holiday Prosecco Habit Could Be Ruining Your Breath

With the holiday season in full swing, odds are that a party (or five) has already begun cropping up on your calendar. But there’s a good chance that you’ll be making this one mistake all season long. Unfortunately, the socially adept and popular are just as at risk as the wallflowers among us.

Dr. Emily Watson, an orthodontist in Indiana who is board-certified through the American Board of Orthodontics, told The Looker that indulging in prosecco and Champagne during holiday celebrations could be doing more harm than you realize to your teeth—and, perhaps more mortifying, to your breath.

The combination of acidity, sugar, and alcohol in such drinks can weaken enamel and cause demineralization, leading to cavities. The risk goes up as you party-stack, making those with busy calendars even more at risk.

When a Glass of Bubbly Turns Into a Social Faux Pas

Sparkling alcoholic drinks are a triple whammy of damage: the low pH causes teeth to demineralize; the sugar content feeds more of the bacteria in your mouth, which can cause more weakening of the tooth; and the alcohol makes your mouth drier.

A dry mouth doesn’t have as much saliva to help coat and protect teeth, so sugar and plaque will stick to your teeth more, exacerbating demineralization.

While the long-term effects aren’t ideal, it’s the more immediate one that might make social butterflies think twice before pouring a glass of bubbly: These drinks can make your breath smell pretty bad. Drier mouths with more plaque accumulation are more likely to cause bad breath, Watson says. This fact, coupled with reduced saliva production, allows harmful bacteria to thrive, which in turn promotes cavity formation and can make stinky breath even worse.

Ironically, this means your season of social toasts might have the unintended effect of making people want to socialize with you less in the future.

Why Prosecco Is So Bad for Your Teeth

One problem lies in the acidity level of a drink, which is measured on the pH scale of 0 to 14, Watson said. Water, for instance, has a neutral pH of 7, whereas anything below 5.5 will cause teeth to break down and demineralize over time.

Prosecco has a pH of 2.9 to 3.5, and Champagne has a pH of 2.5 to 3.2, meaning both are acidic. Whether you go Italian or French, either drink can lead to demineralization and weakening of the enamel. By comparison, a drink that’s merely super sugary in its makeup, like hot chocolate, could be considered marginally better because it is not as acidic.

Advice for Your Next Holiday Fête

Watson says there’s no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater yet, because “one toast of prosecco is not going to make you have cavities.” Instead, she cautions that repeated exposure to the acidity of these drinks over time could be a problem. “It sounds so basic, but I would [encourage] moderation, it’s not something that you want to do every single day for weeks on end.”

If you do find yourself imbibing more than you’d like for the sake of your teeth, Watson recommends you don’t brush your teeth. Not right away, at least.

“You want to drink water, swish your teeth with water, and then give time for that saliva to neutralize before you start brushing your teeth.” Otherwise, you may inadvertently speed up the demineralization process by brushing your teeth when your mouth is the most acidic and vulnerable. For best results, Watson recommends waiting 30 minutes before brushing.