The Effect of Fluoride Glass Slow-Release Devices on the Protection of Primary and Permanent Dental Enamel to Erosive Challenge

Aim: To investigate the use of fluoride glass slow-release devices (FGSRD) for the prevention of dental erosion of human dental enamel in vitro. Methods: Human teeth (permanent and primary) were used for this study. Enamel slabs were randomly allocated to four study groups: Group 1: 24 permanent enamel slabs with FGSRD, Group 2: 24 permanent enamel slabs with placebo non-FGSRD, Group 3: 20 primary enamel slabs with FGSRD, Group 4: 20 primary enamel slabs with placebo non-FGSRD. The glass slow-release devices were randomised into two groups. Test and placebo groups were coded until the end of the study. The enamel slabs were dipped in a citric acid solution for two minutes five times daily for 28 days and brushed twice a day. This was to create the erosive environment for this in vitro study. The slabs were kept in artificial saliva and stored in an incubator at 37oC. The glass slow-release devices (fluoride and non-fluoride) were present in all containers. The surface profile was measured at baseline using surface profilometry and after 14 and 28 days of the cycling regime. Analysis: Simple t-tests were used to compare the permanent and primary teeth groups with 0.05 as the significance level and an ANOVA t-test with a Bonferroni correction to compare: primary and permanent teeth. Daily fluoride release of the FGSRD’s was measured. Results: For enamel of primary teeth, after 14 days 40% less erosion was observed in the F group which decreased to 31% at the end of the study period, i.e., 28 days. This was highly statistically significant (p<0.001) at both time points. For permanent enamel, no significant differences were observed (p=0.091). Conclusion: FGSRD’s have great potential for protection of primary human enamel against erosive challenge in addition to a number of other uses.