Dr Chu Chun-hung, a clinical associate professor in community and family dentistry at the University of Hong Kong's (HKU) faculty of dentistry, recalls the case of a young boy who drank only soft drinks. The boy had such severe dental erosion that his two front teeth required root canal therapy due to the irreversible damage.
Chu says the boy was unaware that soft drinks, even those that are sugar-free, are acidic and therefore erode the structure of teeth. Added to that, the patient had used anti-hypersensitivity toothpaste that masked symptoms of erosion, such as sensitive teeth, and as a result worsened the condition.
Although this is an extreme case, a recent study by Chu and colleagues found dental erosion to be a common occurrence among primary school children in Hong Kong.
The study, published in , found that among 600 12-year-old students surveyed across seven primary schools, 75 per cent displayed early signs of dental erosion, which the researchers linked to fruit juice consumption.
About one-fifth of the students had experienced tooth decay, and about half the decay was left untreated.
High consumption of soft drinks, vitamin C supplements - which tend to have a high acid content - and being a girl were found to be positively associated with the presence of dental cavities.
