Background Liquid oral pediatric medicines (LOPM) contain sucrose and glucose and can have a low pH; their chronic administration may increase the risk for dental caries and erosion in children. The aim of this study was to determine sucrose and glucose concentrations, and pH of LOPMs of long-term use by children. Methods A cross sectional survey was conducted among 95/381 pharmacies to assess the most commonly prescribed LOPM by pharmacists in North Jordan, yielding 42 medicines which were analyzed for sucrose and glucose concentrations (mg/g) using HPLC-RID, and pH measurement using pH-meter CP-505. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 19.0. Differences were considered significant at P ≤ 0.05. Results The lowest and highest sucrose concentrations were for Ramlac® (0.9%) from the gastrointestinal medicines and Varolex® (79.5%) from the nutritional medicines, respectively. The lowest and highest glucose concentrations were for Adol® (0.0%) from the central nervous medicines and Pediavit-D® (81.1%) from the nutritional medicines, respectively. The pH ranged from 3.2 for Varolex® from the nutritional medicines to 10.0 for Zithromax® from the antibiotics medicines. Conclusions Some of the LOPMs studied had high sucrose or glucose concentrations (or both) and low pH which could increase their potential of causing dental caries and erosion when ingested frequently and chronically.

Ola B. Al-Batayneh, Ala’a B. Al-Bataina, Yousef S. Khader, Arwa I. Owais

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