Sucrose concentration and pH in liquid oral pediatric medicines of long-term use for children.

OBJECTIVES To determine the pH and sucrose concentrations (SC) of pediatric liquid drugs of long-term use by children in order to evaluate the potential risk for dental caries and dental erosion. METHODS After assessing the pH, we analyzed 71 aqueous medicine samples for sucrose by the Lane-Eynon general volumetric method. The pH and SC values (mean +/- standard deviation (SD) were calculated according to therapeutic action. RESULTS The highest and the lowest SC values (mean +/- SD) were found in respiratory (37.75% +/- 17.23%) and endocrine drugs (11.97% +/- 15.16%) (p < 0.01). The values for medicines prescribed for daily ingestion were 47.15% +/- 9.57%, whereas for twice daily and three or four times a day, these numbers were 24.42% +/- 18.03% and 34.43% +/- 14.83%, respectively (p < 0.01). The SC (mean +/- SD)) values were higher in syrups (36.32% +/- 17.62%) than in other formulations (p > 0.05). The overall pH (mean +/- SD) was 5.89 +/- 2.02 (range 2.3 +/- 0.01 to 10.6 +/- 0.02). In products with acidic pH, the SC (mean +/- SD) was significantly lower (22.14% +/- 15.72%) than in nonacidic medicines (39.22% +/- 15.82%) (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS It can be concluded that the pediatric medicines studied have a high SC and low pH, which vary according to therapeutic class, daily dose, and brand. Caution about dental caries, dental erosion, and systemic diseases such as diabetes mellitus is warranted when these medicines are ingested frequently.