A Randomised trial to investigate the erosive effect of hot drinks

Research on dental erosion has largely been undertaken at room temperature despite fruit juice drinks often being consumed at elevated temperatures in the United Kingdom, notably during periods of convalesce. The aim of the study was to evaluate the erosive potential of two fruit juices containing acidic non-alcoholic drinks at elevated temperatures in situ on human enamel after 5, 10 and 15 days. A commercially available conventional apple and blackcurrant fruit juice drink was compared to a blackcurrant juice drink modified to have low erosive potential, and mineral water consumed at approximately 59 °C. Twenty-one healthy volunteers aged 18 or over participated in a single-centre, single-blind (blinded to the investigator), three-treatment crossover study. Subjects were randomised to a treatment sequence using a Latin square design. Subjects wore upper removable appliances containing one human enamel specimen from 9 am to 5 pm for 15 days for each beverage. Measurements of enamel loss were recorded after 5, 10 and 15 days by contact surface profilometry. The low erosive blackcurrant drink caused significantly less enamel loss (P < 0·05) than the commercially available conventional apple and blackcurrant fruit juice drink and was not statistically significantly different to mineral water at any of the time points in the study. Consuming the modified low erosive blackcurrant drink at an elevated temperature resulted in negligible enamel loss in situ, consistent with room temperature findings.