ABSTRACT
Patients diet and habits are important factors that can determine the ocurrence of dental erosion. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of milk to reduce the erosion caused by orange juice in enamel. Specimens of human teeth were mbeddedd in acrylic resin, polished and submitted to the initial microhardness measurement (SMH) using a Knoop indenter with 25 g load for 10 seconds. The specimens with similar values of SMH were randomly divided into 4 experimental groups (n=10) according to the following treatments: C (Control): 30 minutes of immersion in artificial saliva; OJ: 1 minute of immersion in orange juice, followed by 30 minutes in artificial saliva; M: 1 minute of immersion in cow's milk followes by 30 minutes in artificial saliva; OJ + M: 1 minute of immersion in orange juice follwed by 1 minute in milk and 30 minutes of artificial saliva. These treatments were repeated for four times.The final SMH was determined and means of SMH values were calculated. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey's Test (p menor do que 0.05). The immerison of the specimens in milk after orange juice was able to reduce the surface softening caused by this acidic drink. It was concluded that milk after an erosive challenge may be an alternative to reduce enamel surface softening.