RESEARCH ARTICLE
Remineralization of Eroded Enamel Lesions by Simulated Saliva In Vitro
Robert L Karlinseya, *, Allen C Mackeya, Douglas D Blankena, Craig S Schwandtb
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2012Volume: 6
First Page: 170
Last Page: 176
Publisher ID: TODENTJ-6-170
DOI: 10.2174/1874210601206010170
Article History:
Received Date: 26/7/2012Revision Received Date: 02/9/2012
Acceptance Date: 20/9/2012
Electronic publication date: 19/10/2012
Collection year: 2012

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of two simulated saliva (SS) remineralization solutions comprising different calcium-inorganic phosphate (Ca/Pi) ratios on eroded enamel.
Methods:
3 mm diameter enamel cores were extracted from bovine teeth, mounted in acrylic rods, ground and polished,and initially demineralized with either 0.3% (120 minutes) or 1.0% (30 minutes) citric acid solutions (pH 3.8). Both sets of initially eroded specimens were evaluated for surface microhardness (N=10) and treated with either 0.3 or 1.6 Ca/Pi ratio SS. Groups were first exposed to a seven-day remineralization period and then were cycled in a three-day regimen consisting daily of three rounds of two-hour plus overnight SS treatments and three 10-minute static immersions in demineralization solution. Specimens were assessed using surface microhardness and scanning electron microscopy.
Results:
Initial erosion from 0.3% citric acid led to elliptical-shaped pore openings several microns in length and in depth and contrasted significantly with respect to 1% citric acid. The greatest remineralization was observed from the 0.3 Ca/Pi SS, while the 1.6 Ca/Pi SS produced the least.
Conclusions:
This study demonstrated the nature of remineralization of eroded enamel depends on both initial erosive conditions and the Ca/Pi ratio of simulated saliva.