Dental ceramics are traditionally looked upon as inert materials. As many are glass phased, it may be hypothesized that they will be subjected to glass corrosion in aqueous environments. The aim of the study was therefore to analyze the surface elemental composition of glass-phased and all-crystalline ceramics, before and after low- and high-intensity, in vitro corrosion (milli-Q-water at 37+/-2 degrees C for 18 h and 4% acetic acid at 80+/-2 degrees C for 18 h, respectively). The analysis of the surface elemental composition was performed using ESCA. The hypothesis was confirmed. After high-intensity corrosion, the complete wash out of alkali ions, alkaline-earth ions and elemental alumina was found, leaving behind a surface totally dominated by silica. The all-crystalline ceramics, densely sintered alumina and yttria-partially stabilized tetragonal zirconia, displayed only minor surface changes, even after high-intensity corrosion. In comparison to the corrosion testing in acid, the corrosion process in milli-Q-water did not produce different results in principle, except for the lower magnitude of the depletion of alkali ions and the virtually unchanged level of elemental alumina. Unexpectedly, no substantial difference in surface degradation was found between the glass ceramic and the ordinary porcelain-fused-to-metal ceramic or between ceramics of higher sintering temperature and those of low or ultra-low sintering temperature. The composition and microstructure alone did not appear to provide a full explanation for the inter-individual differences in surface corrosion when exposed to comparable environmental conditions.