Berfin Bozdemir - 11

Eating sweet foods produces acid in the mouth, which can cause tooth decay. (High acid levels are measured by low pH values)

Describe the information below and discuss the implications for dental health.

The line graph illustrates the acidity caused by the three given sweet foods, Fruit sugar, Cane sugar and Honey with the time period of their consumption. Overall, it can be clearly seen that the presenred three sweety foods can be harmful for dental health due to their acid levels and all of them can reach the same level of pH after half an hour of their consumption.

To begin, the sharp increasing trend of three sweetened foods are similar with each other from the moment they are consumed. The pH level of these foods start from the same value (7 pH) and experience a dramatic drop in the first five minutes in our mouth. While the acidity of Honey remains steady between the fifth and tenth minutes, those of Cane sugar and Fruit sugar start to rise from their lowest points of pH; namely, 3,5 and just over 4, respectively.

After the tenth minute, the three inclinations of the sugar types are similar in that all of their acidity levels increase from the acid levels at which tooth decay occurs to the acid levels at which tooth decay is unlikely. While the Cane sugar passes the limit of tooth decay after 30 minutes, Fruit Sugar reaches the tooth decay line after 20 minutes. The acidity of Honey moves faster than the other two trends and it has a more significant augmentation while the other sugar types face more gradual rises. After 35 minutes of their consumption, all of the tendencies with the rate of 7 pH are fixed at the same level as their starting level.