Effect of Mints Containing Bioactive Agents on Artificial Root Caries

Objectives: This study investigated the preventive effects of mints containing bioactive agents (xylitol; (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate, EGCG; and amorphous calcium phosphate, ACP) in the remineralization of artificially-induced root caries.
Methods: Caries lesions were formed in bovine root surfaces by demineralization solution (pH 4.6; 96 h; 37 °C). The baseline lesions were treated as follow: 40% EGCG Mint; 1% Mint; 0.5% Mint; Xylitol; EGCG; ACP and Artificial Saliva (AS; negative control). Specimens were pH-cycled through treatments (5 ×/day; 3 min) and 6 cycles of acidic buffer (pH 5.0; 30 min) and neutral buffer (pH 7.0; 10 min) for 8 days. Bacterial collagenase (Chlostridium Histolycum; 100 μg/ml) was used overnight to simulate proteolytic challenge. The caries depth (CD) and porosity as well as mineral density (MD) were estimated using fluorescence microscopy (n=15) and microcomputed tomography (n=6).
Results: Analysis of variance (ANOVA, α=0.05) showed no statistically significant difference in the CD among all groups (p=0.172). The highest fluorescence (F) decrease (83.35%) was observed for EGCG group followed by 40% EGCG Mint (80.31%), with no significant difference between the groups (p = 0.868). The 0.5% and 1% Mint groups presented F decrease of 73.54% and 72.93%, respectively. There were significant differences among EGCG, 40% EGCG, 0.5% and 1% Mint groups when compared to AS (p<0.001). There were no statistically significant differences in the F results (p>0.05) among ACP, Xylitol and AS groups (30.69%, 24.33% and 26.60%, respectively). The highest increase in MD was observed for EGCG and 40% Mint groups (70.12% and 39.62%, respectively). For MD, EGCG, 40% EGCG, 1%, 0.5% mint and ACP groups were statistically similar (p>0.05) but significantly higher than AS (p<0.05). No statistically significant difference was observed between Xylitol and AS groups (p=0.728).
Conclusions: Therefore, the bioactive mints showed remineralization potential on artificial root caries and EGCG was the active ingredient on these formulations.