I have this damn problem that keeps coming back to haunt me every time my mom makes one of those oh-so-fine salads wit’ goat cheese n’ everything: I get this funny feeling on my lower front teeth. Rubbing my tongue against them is comparable to scratching your fingers on a chalkboard… sorta. It feels that same way, sort of, abrasive in a very unnerving fashion. My theory is that the acid from the salad (is there acid in salad ingredients?) somehow wears off the enamel from my teeth. After I get it, it won’t go away until long after (overnight), when I’ve forgotten about it. Brushing my teeth doesn’t help, nor anything else I’ve managed to think of. Oh, and, for what it’s worth, my mom uses a lot of arugula in her salads. It’s very bitter, and I can’t remember ever having the teeth problem after eating a salad without arugula in it.
Acid isn’t wearing your teeth down, son, it’s the sugar in the food that is reacting to your saliva and causing plaque. A lot of foods, especially processed foods, have sugar content, even foods you wouldn’t suspect would have ANY sugar in them.
I don’t know diddly about arugula, in fact I’ve even forgotten how to spell it, but what you’re describing sounds like spinach tooth. Actually, this doesn’t really happen to me, even when I do eat spinach salad which isn’t often. But a lot of people who do say it leaves their teeth feeling inexplicably rough. I heard the reason for it, and I can’t remember it. In any case I think it’s nothing more than an annoyance; if it hurt your teeth I’m sure somebody would have pointed that out at some point.
- Boris B, Hellacious Ornithologist
Yeah, okay. Sounds good to me.
The same thing happens to me when I eat kiwifruit. I cut it into lengthwise quarters and scrape the fruit out of the skin with my bottom teeth, which makes them feel truly bizarre.
I’ve never heard of arugula, but I get exactly the same thing after eating raw spinach.