Dentists often advise against consuming alcohol, since the acid inside can do damage to your teeth. However, a new study that touts possible dental health benefits to drinking wine may have some of them backtracking their remarks.

The research, which was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (JAFC), found that antioxidants present in wine helped protect teeth by removing bacteria that cause cavities and gum disease.

The antioxidants, known as polyphenols, work by disrupting the microbes' ability to adhere to your teeth (aka, form plaque) by up to 40 percent. Thus, these wouldn't work as a full replacement for brushing your teeth, but could still be big in fighting plaque and oral disease nonetheless.

Anti-adherent effects were shown to be even greater when the wine antioxidants were combined with an oral probiotic, so researchers will definitely be exploring that territory a little bit further.

When it comes to actually drinking wine as a dental health reason, moderation is always encouraged. As for the antioxidants, a potential future pathway researchers may follow is looking at creating toothpastes with the compounds inside of them.