Acidic Substances and Teeth

by Brittany S
(Cleveland, Ohio, USA)

I did this project in 6th grade. Using good teeth from my dentist's office, I conducted an experiment to see what substances would cause tooth decay.

I took pictures of each tooth so I could see the results at the end of my experiment. I placed the teeth in individual covered petri dishes, then added different substances to each dish. One dish had dark cola, one dish had water, and one dish had Kool-Aid. Every week, I checked the teeth and took a new picture.

At the end of the experiment, you could see that the tooth sitting in cola was rotten. The one sitting in Kool-Aid was also rotten, but not quite as bad. The tooth in water had no change.

It was really interesting and no one else in my class did a project like that. Most of the other projects were plant-related, like giving Plant A plant food/nutrients and not giving any to Plant B to see which one will grow the best.

Another one I remember was a project that dealt with the senses. People at the science fair were asked to taste a piece of candy (I think the student used Lifesavers) then were asked to try the same candy while holding their nose. It turned out that since a lot of the taste sense is connected to the smell sense, you couldn't really taste anything that well if your nose is closed!

The tooth experiment is a really good project and since most students do simpler projects, I think it would definitely stand out to teachers and judges! You could easily get some teeth from your dentist's office. The teeth I used were from wisdom tooth extractions so they were in good condition before doing the experiment.

Barry's Response - Interesting B. A miniature environmental impact assessment using teeth as the subject. The most challenging part must have been getting the dentist to just hand over some used teeth for your experiment.

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