SCIENTIFIC PROOF OF SOFT DRINKS HARMING TEETH

[Anchor Lead]

It's widely known that soft drinks are not good for our teeth. Korean researchers have unveiled results of an experiment that scientifically backs this claim. Take a look.

[Pkg]

Using a pipette, cola is sprinkled onto a tooth. After some 10 minutes, the tooth goes under an atomic force microscope for close observation. Using nano meter level laser probes, the roughness of the tooth's surface and its elasticity are measured to determine the degree of corrosion. This image shows the tooth dunked in coke was at first light brown but gradually turns to a dark velvety color. This means corrosion is accelerating. A similar outcome was found with lemon-lime soda and orange juice. Exposure to soft drinks for ten minutes made the tooth's surface five times rougher.

[Soundbite] PROF. HONG SEUNG-BUM(MATERIALS SCIENCE & ENGINEERING DEP., KAIST) : "On a nano-scale, the results show cavity can form fast within 5 minutes. Hope this can be a wake-up call."

The research team said it has proved the widely acknowledged theory of how sodas are bad for the teeth through the experiment using an atomic force microscope and related video footage.