The present work suggests that protein profiling in saliva may provide a tool for determining differences in risk for erosive tooth wear. This may be of value when determining lifetime risks of loss of dental structure. To identify the risk at an early stage of the disease gives us the opportunity to implement proper individualized prevention

Salivary flow rate exerts an essential impact on the development and progression of dental erosion. In this work, the experimental dental erosion in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice with reduced salivary flow rate was induced, and the erosive effect of acidic drinks on their dentition was studied.

Human experiments on dental erosion are unethical because of the irreversible loss of dental hard tissues when exposed to acids. Therefore, studies using animal models are of high importance since they represent clinical situations. Based on the present results it can beconcluded that cola drink (phosphoric acid, pH=2.27) exhibited higher erosive effect on mouse mandibular molars compared to sports drink (citric acid, pH=3.39). This new animal model of extrinsic dental erosion where lesions of different severity can be created is suitable for further studies that will improve our understanding of the disease. The present method with transversely ground molars observed in SEM allows a registration of erosive lesions and lesion depths in small teeth like mouse molars. Both studies on the salivary influence (e.g. by using knockout mice) and the studies on the effect of fluoride on development of erosive lesions are warranted.