The Effect of Different Concentration of Silicon on Demineralized Enamel Remineralization - a Scanning Electron Microscopy Study

Objectives: To observation the effect of different concentration of silicon on demineralized enamel,and investigate its effect on remineralization of enamel demineralization.
Methods: Enamel specimens were placed in lactic acid gel, then all specimens were randomly divided into 5 groups, according to the silicon concentration ( ppm): 0.5, 1.0, 8.0,16 and the remineralization liquid foundation as control. All specimens were removed after three weeks. The remineralization effect of the enamel surface were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
Results: Compared with the control group, all the solutions had remineralization effects, especially the concentration of silicon is 8ppm. With the increasing of silicon concentration, the remineralization of enamel demineralization increased when the silicon concentration is 0.5-8ppm.When the silicon concentration increased to 16ppm, its remineralization decreased compared 8ppm.
Conclusions: Demineralization of enamel remineralization increases with increasing concentration under certain critical value silicon concentration,When the value is higher than 8ppm, the silicon effect is not obvious, even lower.Therefore the optimum concentration of silicon promot the remineralization of enamel demineralization is 8ppm.