Dental Health Science Experiment

When teaching children about dental health and how to properly care for their teeth, it is important to emphasize the damage that sugar causes to tooth enamel. Sugar breaks down into acids that erode the tooth surface, causing painful cavities and decay. This can be prevented by brushing teeth thoroughly with a fluoride toothpaste after consuming sugar, and by trying to avoid sweets and sugary foods whenever possible.

Here are two activities that parents or teachers can use to show children what can happen to their teeth if sugar settles on them and is not brushed away:

Experiment 1 (duration: overnight)

Materials Needed

--2 hard-boiled eggs (per child)
--Brown soft drink (regular)
--Water
--2 containers (per child)

Performing the Experiment

--Have the child place one egg in a container filled with the soft drink, and the other egg in a container of water.

--Keep the eggs in their containers overnight.

--The next day, ask the child to pour the liquids out of their containers and compare the eggs.

Conclusions

--Ask the child to discuss the differences between the two hard-boiled eggs. Does the egg that was soaked in the sugary liquid look discolored? Are there changes to its surface or size? Does the egg that was in the water container look the same as before?

--Use this experiment to stress the importance of brushing teeth often to protect against damage from sugar.

Experiment 2 (duration: several weeks)

--Instead of using hard-boiled eggs, soak extracted teeth in each solution. Examine the changes to the teeth on a weekly basis and record any changes to their appearances.