Abstract

OLIVEIRA, TATIANE ALEXANDRE DE; SCARAMUCCI, TAIS; BRAGA, SHEILA REGINA MAIA  and  SOBRAL, MARIA ANGELA PITA. The effect of milk ingestion after an orange juice in the superficial microhardness of human enamel: An in vitro study. RPG, Rev. pós-grad. [online]. 2012, vol.19, n.3, pp. 89-94. ISSN 0104-5695.

Patients' diet and habits are important factors that can determine the occurrence of dental erosion. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of milk to reduce the erosion caused by orange juice in enamel. Specimens of human teeth were embedded in acrylic resin, polished and submitted to the initial microhardness measurement (SMH) using a Knoop indenter with 25 g load for 10 seconds. The specimens with similar values of SMH were randomly divided into 4 experimental groups (n = 10) according to the following treatments: C (Control): 30 minutes of immersion in artificial saliva; OJ: 1 minute of immersion in orange juice, followed by 30 minutes in artificial saliva; M: 1 minute of immersion in cow's milk followed by 30 minutes in artificial saliva; OJ + M: 1 minute of immersion in orange juice followed by 1 minute in milk and 30 minutes of artificial saliva. These treatments were repeated for four times. The final SMH was determined and means of SMH values were calculated. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey's Test (p < 0.05). The immersion of the specimens in milk after orange juice was able to reduce the surface softening caused by this acidic drink. It was concluded that milk after an erosive challenge may be an alternative to reduce enamel surface softening.

Keywords : Dental enamel; Hardness; Tooth demineralization; Tooth erosion; Tooth remineralization.