COMPARISON OF EROSION OF DENTAL ENAMEL BY 4 DRINKS USING AN INTRAORALAPPLICANCE

There are several causes of erosion - acidic foods and drinks have bee n implicated and reducing their erosive potential would seem an import ant area of research. Calcium-citrate-malate (CCM) appeared to have po tentially useful properties as an anti-erosion additive. The study aim s were to test the ability of an intra-oral enamel slab system to meas ure erosion and to compare the erosive potential of a citric acid-base d orange juice drink either with or without added CCM and a positive a nd negative control. Eleven adults wore an upper removable appliance f or four periods each of 6 days. Each appliance held two enamel slabs w hich were inserted into the test drinks for 15 min 4 times a day for 6 days. Loss of enamel was quantified by profiling casts of the enamel slabs taken before and after the test period. Loss of enamal was great est during exposure to a diet phosphoric acid-based cola drink (p < 0. 001) but was similar during exposure to the two citric acid-based oran ge drinks, with or without CCM, and distilled water The loss of surfac e enamel measured from a scanning electron micrograph agreed well with the measurement obtained by profilometry. It can be concluded that (a ) the intraoral enamel slab system was able to discriminate between dr inks in their erosive potential, and (b) it was not possible to determ ine if CCM had any potential for reduction in erosion in an acid bever age as the level of erosion observed for both the critic acid-based or ange drinks was not statistically significantly different from that ob served with distilled water.