Background: Isotonic drinks are an important component of the diet of athletes. Sports drinks cause the body to maintain proper hydration and supplement minerals which are lost in sweat during excessive exercising. Aside from the benefits of isotonic drinks, it is important to be aware of the harmful effects of citric acid within the products, which could cause enamel erosion.
Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the erosive potential of sports drinks using confocal scanning laser microscopy (CLSM).
Material and methods: The studies measured the change of surface roughness of the dental enamel after etching using Isostar, Powerade and Gatorade drinks, and Fortuna orange juice. Measurements were repeated after 1, 2 and 3 h of exposure to the selected liquid. The evaluation of calcium compound contents was carried out using the complexonometric method.
Results: The surface roughness measurements of dental enamel showed that the lowest values of the parameters Ra and Rz were obtained for Isostar and orange juice. The research of the calcium content in the selected beverages showed the highest value in Isostar (320.0 mg/L) and the lowest in Powerade (40.0 mg/L) and Gatorade (21.0 mg/L).
Conclusions: Our study confirms that Isostar is the safest sports drink, among the analyzed beverages, for athletes, because it causes the least erosive changes in dental enamel. It is recommended to supplement beverages to reduce their potential for erosion using calcium compounds.
Keywords: athletes; dental erosion; scanning laser confocal microscopy; soft drinks.