If you've replaced soda with sparkling water and have been feeling rather pleased with yourself, we don’t want to ruin the moment. Fortunately, we probably don't have to.

But, sparkling water is acidic, which has raised questions about what all those bubbles could be doing to our teeth.

Now, researchers have tested what happens inside the mouth after we drink it. And, while plain water still wins the dental popularity contest, your favorite fizzy water isn’t behaving anything like soda.

Why Are We Suspicious of Sparkling Water?

The bubbles in sparkling water come from carbon dioxide. When carbon dioxide dissolves in water, it creates carbonic acid. That makes sparkling water slightly acidic, even when there's no sugar involved.

Acidity matters because tooth enamel can begin to dissolve when the pH inside our mouths drops below about 5.5. That sounds mildly ominous for anyone currently staring at a can of sparkling water. But, the acidity of the drink itself isn't the whole story. 

Our mouths have saliva, which helps neutralize acids and bring pH levels back up. So, researchers decided to watch what happened there, instead.

Scientists Put Four Drinks to the Test

Researchers recruited 20 adults and had each participant drink four different beverages:

• Sugar-sweetened soda

• Regular unsweetened sparkling water

• Calcium-fortified sparkling water

• Plain water

Rather than simply measuring the pH of each beverage, they measured the participants' saliva after they drank them. That gave them a better look at how our mouths respond to these drinks in real time. Soda didn't exactly cover itself in glory.

Soda Was the Clear Loser

Of the four beverages, sugar-sweetened soda caused the biggest increase in mouth acidity.

Regular sparkling water also caused a drop in salivary pH after two minutes, while the calcium-fortified version produced a drop after five minutes.

But, here's the reassuring part. With both sparkling waters, pH levels returned close to where they started in 20 minutes. More importantly, during this short experiment, they remained above the 5.5 level when enamel can begin to dissolve.

In other words, your bubbles did make things temporarily more acidic. They just didn't make your mouth acidic enough to put your enamel at risk.

So, Is Sparkling Water Safe for Your Teeth?

This study gives unsweetened sparkling water a fairly encouraging report card, especially when comparing it with sugary soda.

Researchers said replacing sugar-sweetened soda with unsweetened sparkling water could help lower the risk of enamel erosion. That's not quite the same thing as saying unlimited sparkling water is completely harmless.

How often we drink something matters. So does how long our teeth are exposed to it and whether the beverage has sugar. Previous research has also found that sparkling mineral water is much gentler on our teeth than soft drinks.

So, if you're choosing between a sugary soda and an unsweetened sparkling water, the sparkling water seems to be the more tooth-friendly option.

Don't Panic About Your LaCroix Just Yet

There are a few important limits to this research. For starters, it involved only 20 people.

Researchers were also looking at short-term changes in saliva, not tracking people for years to see what happened to their teeth. The findings were presented at NUTRITION 2026, the American Society for Nutrition's annual meeting. 

Although abstracts presented there are reviewed and selected by experts, this research hasn't yet completed the peer-review process required for publication in a scientific journal. The researchers plan to study the longer-term effects of sparkling water on our teeth next.

Your Bubbles Can Stay

Plain water is still plain water. It hydrates us without bringing carbonation, sugar, or too much drama to the situation.

But, if sparkling water is what keeps you reaching for water instead of soda, this early research offers some reassuring news. While the fizz briefly changes the acidity in our mouths, saliva seems to be pretty good at cleaning up afterward.

So, we probably don't need to stage an intervention for the sparkling water taking over half the fridge. For now, the bubbles can stay.

Looking for stories that inform and engage? From breaking headlines to fresh perspectives, WaveNewsToday has more to explore. Ride the wave of what’s next.