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Almost half of UK adults (46 per cent) believe that popular non-alcoholic drinks, including tea, coffee, cola and fruit juice, have a negative impact on their oral health, according to new research from Mintel.

Additionally, 24 per cent of adults believe that foods such as potatoes, blueberries, cherries and sweets have a negative impact, and this rose to 35 per cent for the 16-24 age bracket. Other factors that adults named as contributing to poor oral health were tobacco (23 per cent) and teeth grinding as a result of stress (21 per cent). Some 46 per cent of Brits believe ageing causes a decline in oral health, with 77 per cent of women aged 65 and over believing this to be true.

By contrast, only 24 per cent of Brits attribute a decline in the appearance of their teeth to poor dental hygiene. Jack Duckett, senior consumer lifestyles analyst at Mintel, said: €Perhaps encouragingly, just a quarter of Brits attribute a decline in the appearance of their teeth to poor dental hygiene. However, the high proportion of consumers that cite dietary factors as having a negative impact on their teeth is a testament to ongoing diet issues in the UK, particularly with regard to high sugar consumption.€

Overall, the dental issues that Brits are most likely to have suffered from in the last 12 months are plaque build-up (47 per cent), staining or yellowing (45 per cent), bleeding gums (35 per cent), tooth pain, for example from a broken or abscessed tooth, (31 per cent), and cavities (31 per cent). One quarter (26 per cent) of all Brits have suffered from bad breath over the past year.