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Funny, we were just talking about this subject at lunch!
One of my lunch colleagues mentioned she was hooked on Diet Coke in  
high school, drinking 5 cans a day and also had braces.  Sure enough,  
the areas covered by the braces were indeed, more susceptible to  
cavities, persumably since saliva didn't really do a good job of  
cleansing those areas, and so the beverage residues may have been  
held in the mouth for quite some time - she didn't mention her dental  
hygiene routine.    I have also heard recently that if you are  
drinking any acidic beverage (pop, juice, wine), you should not brush  
your teeth right away, since the acid has reacted with the enamel and  
the mechanical brushing action does have an impact on the enamel.

Waiting an hour after that wine to brush,
Maija

Coordinator, School Visit Programs
Science Museum of Minnesota

On Jan 16, 2008, at 4:18 PM, Jonah Cohen wrote:

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Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related  
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I've never been able to acquire teeth to test this personally (oddly,
coworkers seem loathe to donate any...) but I've seen several sources
claiming that the "coke will dissolve teeth" thing is simply an urban
legend. Here's Snopes' take on it:
http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/tooth.asp, and I vaguely recall the
Mythbusters testing this, too. Coke sure will stain stuff, but its
powers as an alleged universal solvent are overblown.

In any case, the premise of the tooth-in-coke demo seems a bit off -
after all, who keeps Coke (or any beverage) sitting in their mouth for
hours on end? And someone please let me know if I'm on the right track
here - isn't it technically that sugar does not cause cavities, it acts
as food for bacteria that then cause the cavities?

Once the teeth go, it's all over,
Jonah Cohen
Outreach & Public Programs Manager
The Children's Museum


Double, double, toil and trouble
Particle accelerator CERN
And space telescope Hubble

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