Association of dental enamel loss with the pH and titratable acidity of beverages

Background/purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate how well the pH and titratable acidity (TA) of beverages can predict dental enamel erosion. Materials and methods: The erosive potential of 16 beverages was assessed by measuring their pH and TA. Six beverages were used for training purposes to derive a prediction equation. The ten remaining beverages were set aside to test the prediction equation. Enamel samples were immersed in each beverage for 60 minutes. Enamel loss was measured before and after immersion in different beverages using a profilometer. The equation was formulated from the pH, TA, and enamel toss of the training group. The enamel loss of the test group was calculated using the prediction equation and was compared with the experimental results. Results: Using the prediction equation [enamel loss (mu m) = 6.676 - 1.726 pH + 0.233 TA], the difference between the calculated enamel loss and experimental enamel loss ranged 3.0-14.6% for these beverages. Conclusions: The erosive potential of several beverages can be predicted by the pH and TA. Copyright (C) 2011, Association for Dental Sciences of the Republic of China. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC. All rights reserved.