Tuesday 21 June 2016

Which liquid causes the most decay in teeth?

Class LH have been testing out which liquid would cause the most decay.  We set up a fair test using equal amounts of liquids and eggshells.   The variable element was the type of liquid we used.   The eggshells represented the enamel on our teeth.  We used orange juice, vinegar, water and Coca-cola and placed the eggshells into an equal amount of the liquids.  We then left them for a week to see what would happen to the enamel (eggshells).  We made our predictions as to which liquid would cause the most decay; 5 predicted vinegar; 1 predicted orange juice and 22 predicted coca-cola.

The results
The egg shell in the water remained unchanged.  The eggshell in the orange juice had a white covering representing the plaque formed by natural sugars.  The Coca-cola surprisingly just stained the egg-shell.  The vinegar in the egg-shell caused the most effect as it was acid - the egg-shell became soft and some of it disintegrated. 

This shows how important it is to clean our teeth to avoid decay from the acids which build up in our mouths. 
Remember; 2 minutes brushing twice a day will help reduce tooth decay.  Having seen the results, LH have vowed to have shiny white teeth for evermore!!