RESEARCH ARTICLE
Roughness and Microhardness of Demineralized Enamel Treated with Resinous Infiltrants and Subjected to an Acid Challenge: An in vitro Study
Gabriela Alves de Cerqueira1, *
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2023Volume: 17
E-location ID: e187421062302030
Publisher ID: e187421062302030
DOI: 10.2174/18742106-v17-230223-2022-126
Article History:
Received Date: 30/9/2022Revision Received Date: 12/1/2023
Acceptance Date: 19/1/2023
Electronic publication date: 15/03/2023
Collection year: 2023
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Resinous infiltrating has proven effective in arresting incipient caries lesions.
Objective:
This study aimed to assess the penetration depth of an experimental resin-infiltrant (75% - TEGDMA, 25% - Bis-EMA, 1% - EDAB, 0.5% camphorquinone), compare it with commercial infiltrant Icon®, and analyze the surface-roughness and microhardness of the resin-materials infiltrated into tooth specimens, before and after pH cycling.
Methods:
To assess penetration depth, sound third molar specimens were submitted to ten de-remineralization cycles for incipient carious lesion induction and were then randomly divided into 2 groups (n=3): (I) Experimental Infiltrant (EI) and (II) Commercial Infiltrant Icon (CI). After resin infiltration into specimens, qualitative Confocal Fluorescence Microscopy images were captured. For roughness and microhardness assessment, new specimens were demineralized, then randomly divided into two groups (n=20): (I) Experimental Infiltrant (EI) and (II) Commercial Infiltrant Icon (CI) and submitted to roughness and microhardness readouts at the following time-intervals: (T1) sound tooth, (T2) white-spot caries lesion, (T3) resin material that infiltrated, and (T4) resin material that infiltrated and was exposed to pH-cycling. In statistical analyses, generalized linear models of repeated measures in time were applied, with a significance level of 5%.
Results:
The experimental infiltrant penetrated the carious lesion and exhibited lower roughness values after its application, even after pH cycling, similar to the CI. The microhardness value of the EI group was significantly lower in the last three-time intervals evaluated compared to CI.
Conclusion:
Experimental resin infiltrant was efficient in penetrating white spot lesions and reducing surface roughness; however, it did not increase surface microhardness.
