Why Your Mouth is Melting Your Teeth

Why Your Mouth is Melting Your Teeth

Acids are chemically hungry, and they have three signature moves. First, they eat metal. Drop acid on a piece of zinc, and it tears the metal apart to form a salt, burping out highly flammable hydrogen gas.

But your teeth aren't made of metal. They're closer to an acid's second victim: metal carbonates. When acid hits a carbonate, it completely dismantles it, leaving behind salt, water, and fizzing carbon dioxide.

So how do you stop an acid on a rampage? You throw a base at it. In a process called neutralization, the acid and base destroy each other's extremes, leaving behind nothing but harmless salt and pure water.

Every time you eat a sugary snack, the bacteria in your mouth throw a feast. Their waste product is pure acid. If your mouth's pH drops below 5.5, it triggers a reaction that literally melts your enamel—the hardest substance in your body.

But further down, your body relies on an acid pool that makes your mouth look completely harmless. Your stomach churns with hydrochloric acid at a staggering pH of 1.2. It's an internal fire strong enough to dissolve metal, perfectly calibrated to break down your food.

When your stomach feels like a volcano, or a bee injects you with venom, you are under a microscopic chemical attack. Your stomach acid sits at a fierce pH of 1.2. To put out this fire, we don't use water—we send in a base, like Milk of Magnesia.

When a harsh acid meets a strong base, they crash into each other and completely destroy one another's properties. This chemical showdown is called Neutralization. The base forces the acid to break apart and swap its atoms.

The result? The burning acid and the bitter base cancel out entirely. They leave behind nothing but pure water and harmless salt. The burn is gone, your pH returns to a safe, neutral 7, and your body is at peace.