Analysis of dental erosion induced by different beverages and validity of equipment for identifying early dental erosion,in vitro study

Objective: to understand early dental erosion induced by different beverages and the equipment for its detection. methods: the study was conducted at the university malaya medical centre,kuala lumpur,malaysia,from june to september 2014,and comprised single-rooted,unpolished teeth divided into six groups. electron micrographs and other baseline readings for further analyses were taken before and after the exposure to different beverages. the teeth were exposed to the beverages using a modified nordini's artificial mouth model. the positioning of the teeth on the motorised stage of the equipment was standardised. results: of the several beverages used,cocacola had the lowest ph value of 2.53,while tap water had the highest ph of 5.4. deionised distilled water,which was used as a reference,had a ph near to neutral /alkaline of 7.3. the fluoride content ranged between 9.38ppm in tea and 0.005ppm in orange juice. teeth exposed to beverages with low ph and considerably high fluoride underwent slight remineralisation (roughness increase 8% from tea),while beverages with no fluoride content and low ph roughened the enamel surface (coca cola roughened upto 37%). quantitative analyses of tooth erosion,micro-hardness,surface-roughness,and surface-height showed that all beverages exhibited positive erosive effect on the tooth enamel surface (p<0.005). conclusion: cocacola was found to be the most erosive agent among both hot and cold beverages (37%),while coffee was more erosive among the hot beverages (29%). © 2016,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.