Influence of beverage composition on the results of erosive potential measurement by different measurement techniques

The influence of beverage composition on the measurement of erosive potential is unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether beverage composition influences the measurement of erosive potential and to evaluate the influence of exposure in small and large volumes. Eleven beverages were included: water (control), 3 alcopops, 2 beers and 5 soft drinks. For each beverage 15 bovine enamel samples were used: 5 for chemical and 10 for profilometric analysis. After exposure to the beverages (63 min) the resulting solutions were analyzed for Ca and inorganic phosphorus (P_i) content. The samples for optical profilometry were submersed sequentially in 500 ml or in 1 ml of the drinks for 3, 6, 9, 15 and 30 min (total 63 min). For some of the beverages high baseline concentrations of Ca (energy drink) or P_i (cola drink, cola lemon drink, beer, beer lemon) were found. Some of the beverages showed a good correlation between the chemical methods. Profilometry (both for 1 and 500 ml) showed generally lower enamel losses than the chemical methods. Lower enamel losses were found for the profilometry 1 ml compared to the profilometry 500 ml only for the cola drinks. It can be concluded that the composition of the beverages had a significant effect on the determination of the erosive potential with chemical analyses. Drink composition also influenced the effect of small versus large exposure volumes, indicating the need for standardization of exposure parameters.