A Centrifugal Technique of Measuring Food Retention

Abstract

Since the retention of carbohydrate foods on the teeth is accepted as a determinant of caries activity, it is logical to assume that there will be a direct relationship between the extent to which carbohydrate foods adhere to the teeth and their relative cariogenicity. Therefore, if foods could be rated according to their retentivity to the teeth, there might be reason for excluding some carbohydrates but allowing others in diets designed to control caries. This concept led Bibby, Goldberg, and Chen' to determine "decalcification potentials" for 105 foods from experiments which combined measurements of the amount of food retained around the teeth following mastication and the amount of acid formed on salivary fermentation of that food.Bibby et al.1 measured food retention by means of a carbohydrate analysis of rinsings recovered from the mouth of a test subject who had chewed the food. Their technique for measuring food retention was subject to several inaccuracies, the most important of which was that the value obtained included the food retained on the soft tissues of the mouth as well as that retained on the teeth. Although this was overcome by Ludwig and Bibby's2 modification, the method was still subject to considerable person-to-person and day-to-day variations.In view of these uncontrollable limitations in the in vivo technique, it was considered desirable to develop an in vitro method of measuring the retention of foods to tooth surfaces. Such an in vitro technique could be used to derive cariogenic ratings of foods, and it could also be employed to analyze the factors in the composition or preparation of foods which influenced their retentivity. This information might in turn make it possible to modify the formulation of candies and other highly cariogenic foods to reduce their cariogenicity without affecting their taste appeal. This paper reports the development of such an in vitro technique which gives a fairly wide spread in numerical values for different foods and which rates the foods in much the same order of retentivity as had been obtained with earlier, intra-oral recovery techniques. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS AND RESULTSDevelopment of centrifugal method.-After preliminary experimentation with apparatus designed to imitate masticatory movements, it was decided that centrifugal force was the most easily controlled force that could be used to dislodge test foodstuffs

Optimization of platelet‐rich fibrin

“…The formula for RCF is a relatively simple one as follows: RCF = 11.18 x r x (N/1000) 2 where N is revolutions per minute and r is the radius in cm (QR Code 3 ). 6 Therefore, the radius plays a multiplying role in the relative centrifugal g-force. As the radius is increased (as in the child example), g-force values are also increased.…”

Standardization of relative centrifugal forces in studies related to platelet‐rich fibrin

“…For these reasons, it is important to have a basic understanding of RCF values including calculations to obtain RCF‐min, RCF‐clot, and RCF‐max. The formula for RCF ( RCF = 11.18 x r x (N/1,000) 2 w here N is revolutions per minute and r is the radius in cm) favors greater values at larger radiuses since the radius plays a multiplying role on final RCF values. As depicted in Figure representing a centrifuge (which typically range in angulation from 30° to 45°), RCF values can easily be doubled between the RCF‐min and RCF‐max based on this increased radius distance (Table ).…”

Mastication: The Need for Collaborative Research

“…Few details are ever given in publicatibns arid, to date, few characterisations of the physical properties of foods have appeared in dental publications as integral parts of a study (exceptions are Dahlberg 1942;Caldwell 1962;Olthoff 1986). Although some early work involved the physical testing of the adhesiveness of food to teeth, b u s e of the importance in dental caries (Beck and Bibby 1961;Caldwell 1%2), most subsequent work in that field has been directed towards the microbiology of the plaque and the relationship of dietary sucrose to the production of potentially adhesive extracellular polysaccharides produced by some bacteria.…”