Assay for erosivity of foodstuffs and effectiveness of dental products

Both the caries process and erosive attack lead to the release of calcium and other ions from tooth structure. Detectable markers for calcium ions may be useful to assess the activity of caries lesions as well as erosivity of products. We have identified a promising luminescent calcium-ion marker (Patent Pending).

Objectives: Commonly used laboratory methods are insensitive and may not truly reflect the erosive process. The aim of this work was to develop a laboratory method for use in the development of novel foodstuffs and dental products.

Methods: More than 100 extracted human teeth were exposed to a variety of erosive challenges. The erosive challenge was applied either as gel or solution and was removed before assessment by rinsing with deionised water. Surfaces were imaged in visible light and then immediately after addition of a luminescent calcium ion marker on the enamel. More light indicates the presence of more calcium and more erosion. This is measured by determining grey-scale values with an image analysis programme.

Results: Results show that unchallenged enamel produced significantly less luminescence signal than acid-challenged enamel. For example, teeth treated with gel or solutions below pH 5 lead to significantly more light output than when using materials of above pH 5 (t tests p<0.01 for gel, p=0.01 for solutions).

Conclusions: We consider that the luminescent calcium-ion marker identified and assay method developed may be useful for the development of new foodstuffs, drinks and dental products that help minimise erosion, as well as a risk assessment tool to determine the erosivity of products.