Methods: Ten popular fruits and vegetables were individually blended in a juicer to form a fruit or vegetable juice. Biotene saliva substitute was used to aid the juicing process of spinach, which did not have enough liquid to create a solution. Roots of thirty human anterior teeth were cut, preserving the crowns. The labial surfaces (three for each treatment group) were then immersed for thirty minutes in a fresh juice of one of ten products: 1) strawberry, 2) spinach, 3) pineapple, 4) grapefruit, 5) green pepper, 6) pickle, 7) orange, 8) apple, 9) tomato, and 10) carrot. Microhardness assessments of the enamel were taken pre-treatment and post-treatment.
Results: All fruits and vegetables showed differences between the pre- and post-treatment microhardness values: strawberry (p=0.02), pineapple (p=0.01), grapefruit (p=0.00001), green pepper (p=0.03), pickle (p=0.00001), orange (p=0.04), apple (p=0.04), tomato (p=0.03), spinach (p=0.05), and carrot (p=0.05).
Conclusions: A thirty-minute exposure to the juices of all fruits and vegetables examined in the study significantly changed the microhardness of enamel, with grapefruit and pickle having potentially the most erosive effect on enamel. Diets that are high in fruits and vegetables can predispose to enamel erosion.