WHAT DOES SODA (REALLY) DO TO YOUR TEETH?

BY ANDREW HOFFMAN, 5TH GRADE, MS. CHILDERS

BACKGROUND RESEARCHSODA IS A CARBONATED BEVERAGE THAT USUALLY CONTAINS FLAVORING, WATER, SUGAR AND CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2). EVEN THOUGH IT IS A VERY POPULAR DRINK, IT IS UNHEALTHY BECAUSE IT DAMAGES TOOTH ENAMEL AND REDUCES CALCIUM ABSORPTION. PARTICULAR SODAS LIKE COKE CAN DO MASSIVE DAMAGE TO TEETH BECAUSE IT CONTAINS LARGE AMOUNTS OF SUGAR AND PHOSPHORIC ACID. AND JUST BECAUSE SOME SODAS DON`T CONTAIN SUGAR, LIKE DIET COKE, THEY CAN STILL DO DAMAGE TO TEETH BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN ACID.

BUT ALL IN ALL, SUGAR IS THE WORST PART OF SODA BECAUSE IT CAN CAUSE YOU TO GET ADDICTED TO THE DRINKS DUE TO ITS GREAT TASTE, SO YOU END UP HAVING HUGE AMOUNTS OF SUGAR COATING YOUR TEETH. AS THE SUGAR BREAKS DOWN, IT MAKES BACTERIA. THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE WASTE PRODUCT THAT THE BACTERIA GIVE OFF IS SIMILAR TO CARBONIC ACID, WHICH DISSOLVES TEETH. THE MORE SODA YOU DRINK, THE MORE ACID COMES IN CONTACT WITH YOUR TEETH.

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY SOFT DRINKS HAVE FIZZ? WHEN YOU OPEN THE CAN, THE C02 ESCAPES. THAT IS WHAT MAKES SODA FIZZY. BUT AS THE SODA SITS AND GETS “FLATTER,” THE C02 TURNS MORE AND MORE INTO CARBONIC ACID. THUS, THE LONGER THE SODA SITS ON YOUR TEETH, THE MORE IT EATS AWAY AT YOUR TOOTH ENAMEL.

HYPOTHESISI THINK THAT COKE WILL DISSOLVE THE MOST EGG ENAMEL AND LIMESTONE BECAUSE IT HAS THE HIGHEST ACIDITY LEVEL (PH. VALUE OF 1). LIMESTONE AND EGG ENAMEL ARE EXCELLENT SUBSTITUTES FOR TEETH BECAUSE OF THEIR SIMILAR PROPERTIES TO TOOTH ENAMEL. COKE CONTAINS BOTH PHOSPHORIC ACID AND HIGH AMOUNTS OF SUGAR. THIS COMBINATION SHOULD PRODUCE THE MOST DRAMATIC WEIGHT LOSS (EQUIVALENT TO TOOTH DECAY) OF THE ENAMEL SUBSTITUTES.

AFTER COKE, I THINK DIET COKE WILL DISSOLVE THE MOST ENAMEL & LIMESTONE (PH. OF 3); FOLLOWED BY SPRITE (PH. OF 3); CARBONATED WATER (PH. OF 5); AND REGULAR WATER (NEUTRAL PH. OF 7).

EXPERIMENTATION PROCEDURE

MATERIALS:

4 CANS OF DIFFERENT CARBONATED SODAS: COKE, DIET COKE, SPRITE & PERRIER

1 CAN OF WATER

5 PLASTIC CUPS

1 PEN

1 CUP GRANULATED LIMESTONE

5 PH. STRIPS

1 SCALE, CALIBRATED IN OUNCES

EXPERIMENTATION PROCEDURE (2)

5 COFFEE FILTERS

MEASURING CUPS

PAPER TOWELS

TOASTER OVEN

EXPERIMENTATION PROCEDURE (3)

EXPERIMENTATION & PROCEDURES (4)

EXPERIMENTATION & PROCEDURES (5)

EXPERIMENTATION & PROCEDURES (6)

EXPERIMENTATION & PROCEDURES (7)

EXPERIMENTATION & PROCEDURES (8)

EXPERIMENTATION & PROCEDURES (9)

EXPERIMENTATION & PROCEDURES (10)

METHODOLOGYFOR THE LIMESTONE-IN-SOLUTION PART OF THE EXPERIMENT, I GATHERED ALL THE MATERIALS, THEN LABELED FOUR CUPS FOR EACH OF THE SODAS AND LABELED THE FIFTH CUP FOR PLAIN WATER. I POURED ½ CUP OF EACH SODA INTO CUPS, THEN TESTED THE PH. VALUE OF EACH SODA AND RECORDED IT. I LABELED EACH OF THE FIVE COFFEE FILTERS WITH THE NAMES OF EACH SODA, PLUS ONE FOR WATER, THEN POURED ¼ CUP OF GRANULATED LIMESTONE INTO EACH FILTER AND WEIGHED EACH FILTER. I PUT EACH COFFEE FILTER INTO CUPS, THEN POURED AN ADDITIONAL ¼ CUP OF EACH APPROPRIATE LIQUID INTO THE CUPS, THEN LEFT THEM IN SOLUTION OVERNIGHT. THE NEXT DAY, I REMOVED THE COFFEE FILTERS AND LEFT THEM OUT TO DRY. AFTER I WAITED FOR THE FILTERS TO DRY 24 HOURS, I DISCOVERED THEY STILL WERE NOT COMPLETELY DRY. TO SPEED UP THE DRYING PROCESS, I PUT EACH FILTER INTO A TOASTER OVEN AT LOW TEMPERATURE FOR TWO HOURS. AFTER THE DRYING PROCESS WAS FINALLY COMPLETE, I SUBTRACTED THE FINAL WEIGHT FROM THE STARTING WEIGHT FOR EACH FILTER OF LIMESTONE, AND COMPARED THE WEIGHT OF THE LIMESTONE TO THE PH. LEVELS FOR EACH OF THE SODAS.

METHODOLOGY (2)TO DISCOVER MORE VISUAL EFFECTS OF SODA ON TEETH, I USED HARD-BOILED EGGS TO SIMULATE TOOTH ENAMEL. I PUT EGGS INTO FIVE GLASSES, THEN ADDED ½ CUP OF EACH SODA AND ONE FOR WATER TO EACH GLASS AND LEFT THEM IN SOLUTION FOR 24 HOURS. AFTER 24 HOURS PASSED, I RINSED EACH EGG WITH WATER, THEN WEIGHED EACH EGG, AND COMPARED THEM TO THE ORIGINAL EGG WEIGHTS. I ALSO EXAMINED EACH EGG FOR ANY CHANGES IN TEXTURE AND COLOR.

DATA

SODA & LIMESTONE COMPARISONS

Soda pH Value

Starting Weight (ounces - oz)

Ending Weight (after 24 hours)

Coke 1 1.9 1.9

Diet Coke 3 1.9 1.7

Sprite 3 1.9 1.9

Carbonated H2O

5 1.9 1.6

H20 7 1.9 1.8

SODA & EGG COMPARISONS

Soda pH Value

Starting Weight (ounces - oz)

Ending Weight (after 24 hours)

Coke 1 2.6 2.1Diet Coke 3 2.9 2.3Sprite 3 2.7 2.6Carbonated H2O 5 3.0 2.8

H2O 7 2.2 2.2

OBSERVATIONSFOR THE LIMESTONE-IN-SODA PART OF THE EXPERIMENT, I OBSERVED THAT MY ORIGINAL HYPOTHESIS WAS POSSIBLY INCORRECT BECAUSE THE WEIGHT OF THE LIMESTONE IN COKE WAS NOT LESS THAN IN THE OTHER DRINKS. I BELIEVE THE POSSIBLE REASON THE LIMESTONE IN COKE DID NOT LOSE WEIGHT WAS BECAUSE OF THE ADDED WEIGHT OF THE SUGAR MOLECULES FOUND IN THE SODA. ALSO, SUGAR IS VERY STICKY, AND THE INSIDE OF THE COKE FILTER WAS SO STICKY IT WAS HARD TO TOUCH IT WITHOUT GETTING MY FINGERS STUCK. THIS COULD HAVE PREVENTED THE LIMESTONE FROM GOING INTO SOLUTION, THUS SKEWING THE WEIGHT RESULTS.

GIVEN THEIR PH. VALUES, I ANTICIPATED THAT THE LIMESTONE WEIGHT IN COKE WOULD DECREASE BY THE MOST, FOLLOWED BY THE LIMESTONE WEIGHTS IN DIET COKE, SPRITE, CARBONATED WATER AND, LASTLY, WATER. BUT WHAT I FOUND WAS THAT THE CARBONATED WATER LOST THE MOST WEIGHT (-0.3 OZ.). IN FACT, THE WEIGHT OF THE LIMESTONE IN COKE DID NOT CHANGE. THE OTHER LIMESTONE WEIGHT CHANGES WERE: DIET COKE: -0.2 OZ.; CARBONATED WATER: -0.3 OZ.; SPRITE: NO CHANGE; WATER: NO CHANGE.

THE EGG EXPERIMENT MADE MORE SENSE TO ME. THE WEIGHT OF THE EGG IN THE COKE REDUCED BY -0.5 OZ.; DIET COKE: -0.6 OZ.; CARBONATED WATER: -0.2 OZ.; SPRITE: -0.1OZ; AND THE WEIGHT OF THE WATER DID NOT CHANGE.

AS FAR AS THE COLOR AND TEXTURE OF THE EGGS WERE CONCERNED, THE TEXTURE OF THE EGGS IN COKE AND DIET COKE WERE BOTH PITTED AND ROUGH; THE COLOR OF BOTH THE DIET COKE AND COKE EGGS WAS STAINED DARK BROWN. THE OTHER EGGS WERE NOT STAINED AT ALL. THE EGG IN CARBONATED WATER WAS SLIGHTLY ROUGH. THE SURFACES OF THE EGGS IN SPRITE AND WATER DID NOT APPEAR TO BE CHANGED.

CONCLUSIONSI LEARNED THAT SOMETIMES, EXPERIMENTS DON`T GO AS PLANNED. THE CARBONATED WATER DISSOLVED THE MOST LIMESTONE BY WEIGHT, EVEN THOUGH IT DID NOT HAVE THE STRONGEST ACIDITY LEVEL. HOWEVER, THE ADDITIONAL WEIGHT OF THE SUGAR IN COKE, COMBINED WITH THE STICKINESS OF THE FILTER DUE TO THE PRESENCE OF SO MUCH SUGAR, MUST HAVE FACTORED INTO THE FINAL WEIGHT OF THE LIMESTONE. THAT, HOWEVER, WOULD BE DETERMINED THROUGH A DIFFERENT EXPERIMENT.

THE DATA I FOUND IN BOTH THE LIMESTONE AND EGG COMPONENTS OF THE EXPERIMENT DID SHOW THAT DRINKING CARBONATED BEVERAGES HAS A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON TOOTH ENAMEL, AND THEREFORE OVERALL HEALTH. THE COMBINATION OF THE DIFFERENT ACIDS – BOTH AS PHOSPHORIC ACID AND AS WASTE PRODUCTS OF BACTERIA – EATS AWAY AT YOUR TEETH, LEAVING THEM PITTED, STAINED (IN THE CASE OF THE DARK SODAS) AND THINNER. SO IF YOU WANT TO QUENCH YOUR THIRST, STICK WITH WATER!