Touyz and Nassani. Int J Oral Dent Health 2018, 4:061 Volume 4 | Issue 2 DOI: 10.23937/2469-5734/1510061 Citaton: Touyz LZG, Nassani LM (2018) Acidity and Dental Erosion from Apple- and Grape-Juice (An in vitro and in vivo Report). Int J Oral Dent Health 4:061. doi.org/10.23937/2469-5734/1510061 Accepted: September 15, 2018: Published: September 17, 2018 Copyright: © 2018 Touyz LZG, et al. This is an open-access artcle distributed under the terms of the Creatve Commons Atributon License, which permits unrestricted use, distributon, and reproducton in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. • Page 1 of 7 • Touyz and Nassani. Int J Oral Dent Health 2018, 4:061 Open Access ISSN: 2469-5734 International Journal of Oral and Dental Health Acidity and Dental Erosion from Apple- and Grape-Juice (An in vitro and in vivo Report) Louis ZG Touyz * and Leonardo M Nassani McGill University, Canada Introducton Acidic drinks and food are consumed worldwide for a long tme and presumed to be innocuous to good health and teeth [1]. Acidic drinks and food do afect teeth, and chronic repeated regular consumpton ex- posure will contribute to the causes of dental ravages (in the form of dental abrasion, atriton, erosion and caries) [2]. Acids are sourced in the drinks, but also af- ter drinking them, more acid is produced from oral bac- terial plaques catabolizing mono- and disaccharides as fermentable sugars in the drinks [3]. Intra-orally, whole stmulated human saliva slowly neutralizes and/or buf- fers ingested acid beverages [3,4]. Afer swallowing a bolus of acid beverage, the intra-oral acidity (pH = 7.00) drops to pH = 4 or lower, within 3 to 5 minutes [4]. Oral bioflm with acidogenic bacterial acton on fermentable carbohydrates (monosaccharides like glucose and fruc- tose; Disaccharides like maltose and sucrose) also lower the pH to below pH = 4. Intra-oral pH takes about 25 to 30 minutes to eliminate the acid environment, as fur- ther stmulated-saliva neutralizes any residual acid [4]. The acknowledged critcal pH to dissolve hydroxyapatte is pH = 5.5 [5]. The major Ca-crystal in teeth is hydroxy- apatte, which is structurally composed of calcium-de- fcient carbonated hydroxyapatte. Consequently, the dental hydroxyapatte crystals are more vulnerable to decalcifcaton in acid media [5]. Frequent regular ex- posure to acidity from drinks modifes intra-oral pH to below the critcal pH (pH = 5.5). At pH 5.5 chemical dis- soluton of calcium from dental hydroxyapatte occurs. Keeping the pH low at pH, < pH = 5.5, promotes mor- dant development of ravages initated and developing from decalcifcaton. Not only is the acidity and buf- ReseaRch aRTicLe Abstract Introduction: Dental erosion from acid drinks is known; in vitro with in vivo evidence that apple and grape juices cause erosion is rare. Aim: i) To test acidity (pH and buffering capacity) in vitro; ii) And assess if these juices leach calcium from teeth in vivo. Methodology: First: Six commercially available potable ap- ple and grape juices were measured (six times each drink) for pH and buffering using 0.5 Molar NaOH with a Mettler DL 25 Automatic Titrator. The apple and grape juices were measured separately, using a 50 mL bolus for measures, 6 times for each. Second: Two volunteer cohorts; (One ful- ly dentate WITH TEETH (mean age 20, M:F 6:6, n = 12) the second edentulous WITHOUT TEETH (mean age 61, M:F 6:6, n = 12), were used to swish with 50 mL aliquots of Apple and/or Grape juices for 30 seconds. Each sample was analyzed six times with Inductively Coupled Plasma with Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) for Calci- um, and Phosphorous. Juices from source were analyzed for Calcium, and Phosphorous, and post-swish expectorate samples were analyzed for Calcium and Phosphorous. Data were analyzed ‘blind’ by technicians unaware of the source of procured samples. Results: Analysis reveals apple and grape juices have pH below 5.5. Statistics consistently show signifcant (p < 0.01 Student-t paired data) increases in Calcium and Phospho- rous leeched from dentate (WITH TEETH) subjects after swishing with apple and grape juices tested. Results pro- vide strong evidence that rinsing with Apple or Grape juices will erode teeth. Grape is more erosive than apple juice. Conclusion: Apple and grape juices have acidity below critical pH 5.5; Both have strong buffering capacities and will decalcify teeth by erosion, when exposed to these drinks in diets. Keywords Acid, Apple juice, Buffering, Calcium, Dental-erosion, Drinks, Critical pH, Grape juice, Hydroxyapatite, Phosphorous, Tooth destruction *Corresponding author: Louis ZG Touyz, Professor, McGill University, Canada Check for updates