Erosive effect of a sport drink mixture with and without addition of fluoride and magnesium on the molar teeth of rats.

A sport drink mixture (pH 3.2), either as such or supplemented with 15 ppm F or 38.5 ppm Mg or both, was given to Osborne-Mendel rats as the only liquid for 42 days. The erosion was scored on the lingual surfaces of the first mandibular molar teeth. Sport drink caused marked erosion, but in the groups where fluoride, alone or with magnesium, was added to the drink, the erosion damages were less severe. Magnesium alone had no clear effect on erosion. Dental plaque, induced by a powdered diet containing 15% sucrose, seemed to modify the erosion process by covering a part of the enamel and thus protecting these areas from the direct effect of acidic drink.