The acidogenic potential of a range of commonly available herbal baby
drinks was assessed on the basis of their ability to depress plaque pH
in vivo in 10 adult volunteers using the plaque harvesting technique.
In addition the pH and inherent acidity of each drink was also analys
ed in vitro. Solutions of 10% sucrose was used as a positive control a
nd full fat milk served as a negative control as it has traditionally
been recommended as a safe drink. Three of the six test drinks had a l
ow pH though most had a low titratable acidity. All drinks, except her
bal tea, on rinsing led to a significant drop in the plaque pH to near
critical pH value of 5.5. Most drinks were also more acidogenic than
milk and some behaved essentially similar to a 10% sucrose solution. T
he area under the curve below the resting pH was highest for apple and
raspberry herbal drink (20.51 +/- 3.66) and was the least for herbal
tea (0.00) compared with the 10% sucrose control (22.01 +/- 2.87) and
milk (0.07 +/- 0.14). It was concluded that most herbal drinks tested,
especially those with added fruit, can lead to a significant acid pro
duction in the plaque and therefore have a potential to cause deminera
lisation of the enamel.