March 28 (iVillage Total Health) -- When you are strolling down the beverage aisle at the grocery store trying to decide what soft drinks to buy your family, the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) wants you to remember this: the safest sodas for your teeth may be root beer products.

In a report published in the March/April issue of General Dentistry, the AGD's official journal, researchers studied the amount of acid in a variety of soft drinks. They found that root beer sodas were less acidic than regular and diet colas.

Researchers from the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine looked at 20 brands of soft drinks and measured their acid level (pH) immediately after opening the cans. They then took slices of tooth enamel carved from newly extracted teeth and soaked them in the beverages for 48 hours. They found that the enamel lost more than 5 percent of its weight -- an indication of erosion -- following immersion in some of the top soft drink brands.

"Drinking any type of soft drink poses risk to the health of your teeth," Dr. Kenton Ross, a dentist and AGD spokesperson, said in a press release. "My patients are shocked to hear that many of the soft drinks they consume contain nine to 12 teaspoons of sugar and have an acidity that approaches the level of battery acid." He said one cola drink had a pH of 2.39 -- only slightly higher than battery acid, which is 1.0.

The study noted that many people drink sodas without thought to what the beverages do to the teeth. Diet drinks contain little or no sugar, but they are made with phosphoric acid and citric acid -- two chemicals that are corrosive to the teeth's enamel. Over time, consuming the drinks may lead to dental erosion, a gradual loss of the structures (gums, bones and ligaments) supporting the teeth. Drinking soft drinks is also one of the potential causes of tooth decay and cavities.

Soft drink consumption has also been linked to the obesity epidemic and increase in diabetes cases because of the high sugar content of many of the drinks.

Ross and other dentists recommend using a straw when drinking sodas to reduce the amount of time that beverages are in contact with your teeth. They also recommend limiting the number of soft drinks consumed each day -- by perhaps only drinking them during meals.

"The bottom line," according to Ross, "is that the acidity in all soft drinks is enough to damage your teeth and should be avoided."

Copyright 2007 iVillage Total Health.