Chewable vitamin C tablets may cause dental erosion.

Chewable vitamin C has the potential to damage teeth, according to Dr. John Giunta, professor of oral pathology at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts.

In a case report published in the Journal of the American Dental Association last fall, Dr. Giunta reports that the use of chewable vitamin C is shown to cause the pH of saliva to drop to a level at which tooth enamel can lose calcium by the formation of calcium citrate complexes. Dr. Giunta notes in the report that while distributors are claiming that vitamin C tablets are "delicious, fruit-flavored, and chewable," they are not including a warning that chewing vitamin C tablets may be detrimental to the …