Differences of Enamel Microhardness Post External Bleaching After Application with Casein Phosphopeptide Amorphous Phosphate (CPP-ACP) and 5% Sodium Fluoride (NAF)

Bleaching is an effort to lighten the color of teeth through the application of chemicals. One of the side effects of bleaching is that it causes demineralization so that the hardness of the enamel will decrease. The hardness of the enamel can be returned back through the mineral laying process, namely remineralization.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there were differences in post-bleaching enamel hardness after Casein Phosphopeptide Amorphous Phosphate (CPP-ACP) or 5% sodium fluoride (NaF) application.

In this in-vitro research, bleaching was applied to 30 lower premolars that were divided into three groups, the first group without remineralization, the second group remineralization with CPP-ACP, and the third group remineralization with NAF. Enamel microhardness was measured using Vickers Hardness Tester Machine before bleaching, immediately after bleaching, after application of remineralization pastes, and after 7 days. The teeth were bleached with 40% hydrogen peroxide and underwent remineralization for 7 days.

The results showed differences in enamel microhardness after using CPP-ACP or 5% sodium fluoride (NaF) application, and the highest post-bleaching enamel hardness was after 5% NaF application. The data were analyzed and tested using ANOVA to measure the differences in hardness between more than 2 groups, and using the post hoc student t-test to measure the differences in violence between the 2 groups. Natural remineralization can occur with saliva but not optimally; therefore, additional remineralizing agents are needed.

The conclusion of this study was that 5% NaF used as a remineralization agent after in-vitro bleaching could increase enamel microhardness more than CPP-ACP after 7 days of application.