Introduction

The cariogenic properties of various snack foods is extremely important in dietary counseling for patients who wish to minimize their vulnerability to dental caries.  The Vipeholm study¹ established the concepts that frequency of consumption of fermentable carbohydrates and their retentive properties were primary considerations in the development of dental caries in humans.  Other studies^{2,3,4,5,6,7,8} have focused on the cariogenicity of snack foods.  It is clear there should be a scientific basis for recommending foods that can be safely consumed as between-meal snacks.  Plaque pH telemetry is still used today as a basis for labeling snack foods and medications that are hypoacidogenic.⁹  However, plaque pH models do not take into account the mineral changes that actually occur in tooth structure.  In addition, such models lack the capability of identifying anti-cariogenic foods which result in remineralization, or at least prevent demineralization of tooth structure.

For these reasons, intra-oral remineralization and demineralization models appear to be a much more powerful tool for examining the cariogenic potential of snack foods.  Such models have previously been used to identify processed cheese food as a beneficial snack for both enamel and dentin caries.¹⁰

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