It’s Friday night and after telling all three of your friends you were way too busy to hang out, you close your door, turn the lights off, put some music on, and make yourself comfortable for a great night of gaming. Sound familiar? No? Maybe it’s just us. Anyway, the excruciating mental sweat and physical workout demanded by our favorite games build up an appetite, causing many of us to raid the kitchen. However, a new study might make you think twice before you reach for that high-fructose corn syrup.
The study comes to us from the University of Iowa, where a group of 12 to 16 year olds were put under the microscope as they spent long hours playing video games and eating sugary treats whilst sipping on gin and juice soft drinks to maintain their strength. The results painted a bleak picture where researchers found a direct correlation between hours spent playing and the chances of developing tooth decay.
The cause of such decay stems from the amount of time playing, which in turns allows more time for bacteria to interact with the sugar lingering in your gums.
While it’s easy to blame video games for the pandemic of rotting teeth sweeping the nation, the culprit is not so much the games themselves as it is a poor diet and lack of healthy dental habits. So please, before you pop in that disc and set in for a seemingly endless marathon of button mashing and joystick pointing, make sure to stock up on some healthy choices for fuel and remember to brush your teeth before passing out on the couch.
Please Note: For the sake of our audience, we refrained from using actual images of rotten teeth.
