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Influence of liquid temperature and flow rate on enamel erosion and surface softening
Author(s) -
Eisenburger M.,
Addy M.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of oral rehabilitation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.991
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-2842
pISSN - 0305-182X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2842.2003.01193.x
Subject(s) - softening , enamel paint , erosion , citric acid , materials science , laminar flow , chemistry , composite material , geology , biochemistry , thermodynamics , paleontology , physics
summary Enamel erosion and softening are based on chemical processes which could be influenced by many factors including temperature and acid flow rate. Knowledge of the influence of these variables could have relevance to research experiments and clinical outcomes. Both parameters were investigated using an ultrasonication and profilometry method to assess erosion depth and surface softening of enamel. The influence of temperature was studied by eroding polished human enamel samples at 4, 20, 35 or 50 °C for 2 h. Secondly, different liquid flow conditions were established by varying acid agitation. Additionally, a slow laminar flow and a jet of citric acid, to simulate drinking through a straw, were applied to specimens. Erosion depth increased significantly with acid temperature from 11·0 μ m at 4 °C to 35·8 μ m at 50 °C. Surface softening increased much more slowly and plateaued at 2·9 μ m to 3·5 μ m after 35 °C. A strong dependence of erosion on liquid flow was revealed. In unstirred conditions only 8·6 μ m erosion occurred, which increased to 22·2 μ m with slow stirring and 40·9 μ m with fast stirring. Surface softening did not increase correspondingly with its largest extent at slow stirring at 3·4 μ m .The implication of these data are: first, the conditions for erosion experiments in vitro or in situ need to be specified for reliable comparisons between studies. Secondly, erosion of teeth by soft drinks are likely to be influenced both by the temperature of the drink and individual drinking habits.