Efficacy of toothpastes in the prevention of erosive tooth wear in permanent and deciduous teeth

Aim: To evaluate the erosive preventive effect of toothpastes in permanent (PT) and deciduous teeth (dt).

Design: Enamel samples were divided into five groups (n = 20): G1: placebo toothpaste; G2: NaF toothpaste; G3: AmF-NaF-SnCl₂ anti-erosion toothpaste; G4: SnF_2-toothpaste; and G5: NaF anti-erosion toothpaste for children. The samples were exposed to five erosion-abrasion cycles (artificial saliva incubation; 3 min in 1% citric acid; 2 min in slurry, toothbrush abrasion, 50 strokes, 200 g). Surface microhardness (SMH), surface specular reflection intensity (SRI), and cumulative surface loss (CSL) were measured. Comparisons among toothpastes were evaluated using Kruskal-Wallis tests and comparisons between PT and dt were evaluated using Wilcoxon's rank sum test.

Results: G1 exhibited significantly lower SMH values in PT than the other toothpastes (p < 0.05), with no significant differences among the others groups. In dt, G1 and G4 exhibited significantly different values than the other groups (p < 0.05). G4 exhibited lower values of SRI in both types of teeth. Deciduous teeth presented significantly higher SRI than PT (p < 0.05), except for G3. Deciduous teeth generally presented higher CSL than PT, except for G3.

Conclusions: Deciduous teeth were more prone to mineral loss than permanent teeth. G5 exhibited better efficacy for both teeth, while G3 exhibited a better preventive effect only for deciduous teeth.

Clinical relevance: Erosive tooth wear prevalence in children is growing and deciduous teeth are more susceptible than permanent teeth. Considering this, it is important to know the preventive effect of different toothpastes in an initial erosion-abrasion model.