QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION OF SOLUBILITY AND SURFACE MICRO-HARDNESS OF ENAMEL ON EXPOSURE TO VARIOUS SOFT DRINKS – AN EX-VIVO STUDY

Objective: To evaluate and compare pH and titrable acidity (TA) of various commonly consumed commercially available soft drinks. To evaluate and compare the weight of enamel dissolution and surface micro-hardness of the tooth after exposure to commonly consumed commercially available soft drinks. Methods: 60 human enamel specimens were randomly divided into 5 groups: Group 1: Kinley water (control), Group 2: Pepsi cola, Group 3: Urzza the liquid charger, Group 4: Tropicana orange delight, Group 5: Patanjali amla amrit. For the five solutions pH and TA was calculated. Each of the specimens were then pre-weighed and exposed to the soft drink for 14 days and weighed again. The mean weight difference was calculated for all of the samples. The same samples were subjected to the micro-hardness test (Vickers hardness number). Results: The pH of all the test drinks ranged from 2.55 to 3.74, which is far below critical pH. The pH and TA of carbonated drinks were statistically significantly lower than non-carbonated groups. Statistical analysis revealed that TA at 5.5 has a positive correlation to weight difference and a negative correlation to micro-hardness. Conclusion: TA is a more appropriate criteria than pH to analyze the erosive potential of a drink. Non-carbonated beverages have a higher TA than carbonated beverages which are associated with increased enamel solubility and least micro-hardness values. Patanjali amla amrit had a low pH, high TA and was proven to be the most erosive of the soft drinks tested.