Medicine: Lay That Lemon Down

Lemon juice is rich in vitamin C, and doctors have recommended it at one time or another for rheumatism, colds, constipation, reducing. But some dentists last week sounded a warning: don't overdo it. Too much lemon juice may ruin your teeth.

Fifty patients had come to the Mayo Clinic complaining (among other things) of toothache and the gradual erosion of their front teeth. The dentists discovered that all of them had been addicted, for months or years, to lemon-sucking—or to an early morning drink of lemon juice and water. Some patients' teeth were worn down to the gums. Mayo's experts decided that...