Enamel solubility potential of commercially available soft drinks and fruit juices in Saudi Arabia

Aim: To evaluate pH, titratable acidity and in vitro enamel solubility potential of different commercially available soft drinks and fruit juices in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: Thirty two popular soft drinks and juices were tested for their enamel solubility potential. In addition, bottled drinking water was used as the control. Each drink was evaluated for its pH, titratable acidity which was measured by adding 0.1 N NaOH (sodium hydroxide) to a chosen end point. In addition, one enamel slice was immersed in each test beverage and percentage weight loss in the enamel slice was calculated after intervals of 6 and 24 h.

Results: The pH of all the test drinks ranged from 1.64 to 3.89. Mean pH of 2.84 in soft drinks was significantly lower than in the fruit juices. There was a significant difference between them for percentage weight loss after 6 and 24 h immersion with carbonated beverages causing greater enamel loss than the fruit juices. Colas and non-colas did not differ statistically for pH, titratable acidity and percentage weight loss of enamel slices.

Conclusions: The pH of all the test drinks was below the critical pH of 5.5 for enamel dissolution. Carbonated drinks were observed to have more enamel solubility potential than fruit juices while regular or diet variants and colas or non-colas had comparable solubility potential.