Protective Efficacy of Yogurt, Milk, and Fluoridated Tooth Creme Against Acidic Beverages on Human Teeth: Stereomicroscopic and Ultrastructural Analyses

Acidic beverages can cause significant demineralization and erosive ultrastructural changes in human teeth, while milk and yogurt can prevent dental erosion. This in vitro study aimed to quantify and compare the protective efficacy of yogurt and milk against acidic beverages using stereomicroscopy, weight reduction experiments, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Overall, 24 freshly extracted single-rooted human teeth (preserved in neutral buffered formalin) were randomly divided into four treatment subgroups: yogurt, milk, topical fluoridated tooth cream (TFTC), and unprotected teeth. They were immersed periodically in the six commonly consumed acidic beverages. Four control teeth were neither protected nor immersed in any beverage. The protective efficacy of these agents was calculated from the quantification of surface changes using stereomicroscopy and the extent of percentage weight reduction. SEM was also conducted on selected samples to validate the stereomicroscopic observations. One-way analysis of variance and Tukey's honestly significant difference analysis of the quantified stereomicroscopic features showed that TFTC significantly outperformed other agents in terms of preventing erosive surface changes in human teeth (p < 0.05). Similar findings were observed in the weight reduction experiment, which further supported the stereomicroscopic findings. It revealed that TFTC, yogurt, and milk provided significant protection in comparison to the unprotected group of teeth (p < 0.05) against weight reduction caused by acidic beverages. SEM analysis supported the hypothesis that protected teeth showed lesser ultrastructural damage when compared to unprotected teeth.