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Demineralized water is claimed by some resources to be highly aggressive (due to their lack of minerals) and to attack all sorts of materials. From the World Health Organization website:

Demineralised water is highly aggressive and if untreated, its distribution through pipes and storage tanks would not be possible. The aggressive water attacks the water distribution piping and leaches metals and other materials from the pipes and associated plumbing materials.

Teeth are constantly going through remineralization and demineralization processes and demineralized water has neutral pH in room temperature which is positive for promoting teeth remineralization. However I wonder if such water in practice rather promote demineralization when in contact with teeth by means of leaching of minerals from teeth to water due to their lack of minerals?

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  • $\begingroup$ Interesting question. My first thought is how does demineralised water "attack" materials? Other web sites claim it, but I have not found one that provides a mechanism. $\endgroup$
    – User65535
    Commented Feb 17, 2022 at 16:47
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    $\begingroup$ From a corrosion perspective , "pure" water is considered a problem for common pipe metals. $\endgroup$
    – blacksmith37
    Commented Feb 17, 2022 at 16:52
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    $\begingroup$ If you read your source all the way through, the answer would/should be, "Of course! It's pretty awful stuff!" If you search for reliable sources, you won't find too much literature on the subject, but you will find more on the effect of soft and hard water on health (soft = low levels of Mg/Ca; hard is opposite.) I'm not completely disagreeing with the author, but people need clean water however they can get it. I would not drink distilled water, mostly because it tastes awful, it's expensive, and I have access to safe drinking water. I doubt it's an idea liquid. $\endgroup$
    – anongoodnurse
    Commented Feb 17, 2022 at 17:14
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    $\begingroup$ @User65535 - Water is a solvent. It will leach metals from metal pipes (like lead, causing lead poisoning) or other elements from other surfaces. If you want to know more, read about problems associated with reverse osmosis in home water treatment systems. Or study chemistry. Or something. $\endgroup$
    – anongoodnurse
    Commented Feb 17, 2022 at 17:24
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    $\begingroup$ I’m voting to close this question because as other users have already indicated this: 1) lacks evidence of prior research, 2) is phrased as a personal medical question, and 3) is primarily a chemistry question. Please take the tour and consult the help center starting with How to Ask for details and edit or delete your question accordingly. $\endgroup$
    – tyersome
    Commented Feb 18, 2022 at 0:03

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Here is a list of mineral dissolution rates in pure water. they ALL dissolve, even quartz. The figure for quartz is 4 × 10−14 mol/m2s at 25'C: https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1068/pdf/OFR_2004_1068.pdf

There's carbonate rocks and phosphate rocks including fluorapatite at the end of the study, it's quite complicated, although they do weather in pure water.

Rain is demineralized water which has had time to take in carbonic acid from CO2.

Teeth can actually become stronger and remineralize when the mouth has a pH of 7.5 or above. ref. Demineralized water contains no minerals though, so it will only erode the teeth.

Up to pH 9 is the highest range recommended by the health authorities locally where I live, and it's quite common to have tap water at pH 8 that leaves white residues on taps. It may be annoying, it's very healthy.

If the local water leaves limestone flakes, that's ideal for teeth. If it doesn't it's not very good. Fluorapatite has a pH of 4.5, it comes from fluorine toothpaste, it has higher acid resistance comparatively.

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