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.