title: Amazonian delicacy tucupi is as erosive as a cola-based soft drink.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Acidic diets are advocated as main risk factor for tooth erosion, which could be prevented, or at least controlled, if patients were early advised. It is important to identify, hence, if possible dietary constituents regionally consumed on large scale, such as tucupi, a low-pH yellowish-green color and strong flavor delicacy made from the juice of a bitter cassava, may explain its occurrence in specific patient groups. This cross-over in situ/ex vivo study evaluated tucupi's ability to promote erosion of bovine enamel by assessing its percentage of surface microhardness change (%SMHC), taking a cola-based soft drink and human saliva as positive and negative controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  For three 7-days spaced out legs of 7 days each, nine volunteers wore palatal devices with three bovine enamel blocks, which were challenged with one of the following solutions: TUC-tucupi (n=27); COL-cola-based soft drink (n=27); SAL-saliva (n=27). Erosive challenges were performed extra-orally (4×/day) by dropping TUC or COL at room temperature on specimens. After 5min, palatal devices were replaced into the mouth. SAL permanently acted as the negative control while volunteers solely wore the device. One-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post-hoc tests (α=0.05) were applied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  TUC promoted an enamel %SMHC (-21.56±10.08(a)) similar than that promoted by COL (-18.19±12.99(a); p=0.275), which were both significantly higher than that promoted by SAL (-1.86±13.65(b); p<0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Besides the most worldwide appreciated cola-based soft drink, the greatly consumed Amazonian delicacy tucupi can be considered a potential risk factor for tooth erosion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Operative Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Amazonas, Ministro Waldemar Pedrosa Street, 1539, Centro, Manaus, AM 69025-050, Brazil. Electronic address: martins.l.m@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Leandro Moura
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.affiliation: Department of Operative Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University of São Paulo, Professor Lineu Prestes Avenue, 2227, Butantã, São Paulo, SP 05508-000, Brazil. Electronic address: luff@usp.br.
authors.forename: Luciana Fávaro
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Francisconi-dos-Rios
authors.affiliation: Department of Operative Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Amazonas, Ministro Waldemar Pedrosa Street, 1539, Centro, Manaus, AM 69025-050, Brazil. Electronic address: gabrielameira1@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Gabriela de Figueiredo
authors.initials: Gde F
authors.lastname: Meira
authors.affiliation: Department of Operative Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Amazonas, Ministro Waldemar Pedrosa Street, 1539, Centro, Manaus, AM 69025-050, Brazil. Electronic address: veronica.vpl@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Verônica Pereira Lima
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Bertocco
authors.affiliation: Department of Operative Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Amazonas, Ministro Waldemar Pedrosa Street, 1539, Centro, Manaus, AM 69025-050, Brazil. Electronic address: luciana.mendonca@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Luciana Mendonça
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Department of Operative Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Amazonas, Ministro Waldemar Pedrosa Street, 1539, Centro, Manaus, AM 69025-050, Brazil. Electronic address: rebeloaugusta@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Maria Augusta Bessa
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rebelo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002253:Carbonated Beverages; D002417:Cattle; D030221:Cola; D006244:Hardness; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D002365:Manihot; D014077:Tooth Erosion / Q000139:chemically induced*
keywords: Bovine enamel; Cassava; Cola-based soft drink; In situ/ex vivo; Tooth erosion; Tucupi