Remineralization Effect of Adding Poly-Dopamine to Fluoride Applications

Objectives: Fluoride is recognized as being one of the most widely used method for caries prevention and various researches were done to use fluoride more effectively. This study aimed to evaluate such effect of poly-dopamine (DOPA) when it is applied on the enamel of teeth with fluoride and to compare remineralization effect of surface of teeth to traditional ways of fluoride application.
Methods: In a blind trial, enamel specimens were collected from human molars. Among them, 85 enamel specimens were selected and they were randomly separated into five groups and each treatments were applied for each groups respectively : Group A(DOPA + NaF ; n=20), Group B(F varnish ; n=15), Group C(NaF ; n=15), Group D(DOPA ; n=15), Group E(no fluoride ; n=20). After five days of pH-cycling regimen for specimens, the VHN of each specimens was measured. After measuring VHN, one representative enamel specimen from each 5 groups were selected and were investigated using SEM-EDX and XPS.
Results: The Group A showed lowest reduction of the VHN and this indicated adding DOPA to fluoride application significantly strengthen enamel remineralization effect compared with the other fluoride application treatments. Elemental compositions of enamel specimen achieved through the SEM-EDX and XPS analysis supported those results.
Conclusions: Adding poly-dopamine to fluoride application increases an adhesion capacity, and it allows fluoride to maintain on an enamel surface longer.