A new study shows that people who drink have a lot more bad bacteria and far fewer good bacteria in their mouths compared to people who don’t drink alcoholic beverages.

According to AOL, researchers from New York University found that having as little as one alcoholic drink per day can increase the number of bad bacteria and reduce the number of good bacteria in the mouth. The more people drink, the worse the balance of good bacteria to bad. The researchers noted that good mouth bacteria control the growth of those that are harmful.

This is news to us, because didn’t we all think the alcohol can be used as a cleansing?!

Too many harmful bacteria are known to lead to gum disease, heart problems, and even some cancers. The study is published in yesterday’s edition of the journal “Microbiome.”

Well now we know…this doesn’t mean we’re giving up happy hour though! LOL