Study of Demineralized Dental Enamel Treated with Different Fluorinated Compounds by Raman Spectroscopy

BACKGROUND: Current diagnostic methods for enamel caries detection are unable to detect caries lesions (incipient caries lesion) at a very early stage. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine the remineralizing effect of three fluorinated compounds on demineralized subsurface tooth enamel using Raman spectroscopy characterization. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this experimental study, sixty impacted 3(rd) molars, with intact anatomical crowns recently extracted and without structural defects, were sectioned longitudinally in a mesio-distal direction using a diamond disc, obtaining two working surfaces (buccal and lingual). The 120 working surfaces obtained were immersed for 96 h in a demineralization solution at 37°C in order to demineralize the enamel surface. All samples were randomly divided into three groups (n=30 each) and their surfaces were treated with silver diamine fluoride (SDF), Difluoride silane (DSF), and acidulated phosphate fluoride (APF), and with no treatment undertaken in the control group (CG). The samples were immersed in alternating solutions for demineralization and remineralization at pH 4.4 and pH 7.0, respectively. The results were analyzed with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in order to determine the variance. RESULTS: The most important difference (91.7%) is observed in APF group between PCA1 respect to PCA2, followed by DSF (91.5%) and SDF (76.3%) respectively. Therefore, a greater remineralization in the dental enamel can be observed by the three experimental groups. CONCLUSION: The APF and DSF have the effect of recovering the mineralization of dental enamel, except for the SDF. Functional groups OH(-) and PO43- were identified in all subsurface.