Are Soft Drinks Soft on Teeth? A Study on Dental Erosion Caused by Soft Drinks Marketed in India Nayak Prajna P.1, Singla Nishu2,*, Prasad K.V. V.3, Rao Nandita S4 1Senior Lecturer, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 2Associate Professorr, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 3Professor and H.O.D., Department of Public Health Dentistry, SDM college of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Dharwad 4Dentist, (DDS) Loma Linda University, California, U.S.A *Corresponding Author: Dr Nishu Singla, MDS Associate Professor Department of Public Health Dentistry, Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal Phone: (91) 9964504403, Email: nishu.singla@manipal.edu
Online published on 8 March, 2019. Abstract Introduction Awareness of dental erosion by public is still not widespread, and there is paucity of information on how much erosion do various soft-drinks marketed in India cause. Objectives To quantify the amount of erosion that various soft-drinks may cause, in relation to their baseline pH, titrable acidity and calcium contents. Method Six types of drinks-Coca-cola, Sprite, Maaza, Lipton iced lemon tea, Tropicana orange juice and yoghurt were used, with water as control. Baseline pH was determined by pH electrode, baseline titrable acidity was determined by amount of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) required for making pH of 5.5 and calcium content by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. Five teeth each of maxillary premolars were randomly allocated into each of 7 groups. After incubation in 100 ml for 2 hours, 12 hours and 24 hours, amounts of calcium released was determined. Results Mean calcium release after 24 hours was highest for Coca-cola with lowest pH, followed by Maaza, Sprite, Orange juice, Lemon tea, yoghurt and water, which released 1.38μg/ml/mm2, 1.28μg/ml/mm2, 1.04μg/ml/mm2, 0.91μg/ml/mm2, 0.49μg/ml/mm2, 0.34μg/ml/mm2 and 0μg/ml/mm2 of calcium respectively. Statistically significant differences were found for calcium release in coca-cola, maaza, sprite and orange juice from baseline to 2, 12 and 24 hours (p-value < 0.00). Conclusion Beverages with lower baseline pH and lower baseline calcium concentration showed higher calcium release. Though, direct application of the results of this study to in-vivo conditions cannot be fully made due to other host and dietary factors. Top Keywords Dental erosion, Soft drinks, pH, calcium concentration. Top |