Comparison of Fluoride Uptake Level by Enamel from Iranian School Brand and Standard NaF Mouthrinses

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The use of fluoride mouthrinses has been proved to be one of the most effective ways to prevent tooth decay. A community based program using F+ rinse at school has also proved to be well-controlled and efficient. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate fluoride uptake level of a locally prepared NaF rinse used in Iran’s school program during 2005. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 30 freshly extracted sound human premolars were collected and divided into two groups of 15. Each tooth then underwent two steps of sectioning; first the root was amputated from CEJ and then a longitudi-nal section was performed in bucco-lingual direction to provide two similar samples of the same tooth. A specific hemi-circular area on either of the experimental halves was treated by NaF rinse from USA or a locally prepared NaF used in school programs. Two subsequent biopsies were taken from each half using acid etch enamel biopsy technique. Fluoride and calcium content of the specimens were measured in order to evaluate fluoride uptake level and biopsy depth effect, respectively. Col-lected data were recorded in the forms provided and statistical analysis, mostly descriptive, was performed for comparison. RESULTS: Based on the data collected, it appears that the use of F+ rinse would clearly improve enamel quality by a rise in fluoride concentration. Statistical analysis using a paired t-test and repeated measure method revealed that with 95% confi-dence fluoride concentration increases at both levels of biopsy with no statistically significant differences between the samples treated with two rinses. CONCLUSION: There seem to be reasonable potential for the clinical use of Iranian brand fluoride mouthrinse. There was no significant difference between the level of uptake from NaF from USA and the Iranian product in 2 layers of enamel biopsy.