Keywords: topical fluoride; glass ionomer cements; toothbrushing; abrasion.
IntroductionFluoride release from restorative materials has been proposed as a possible mechanism to reduce the occurrence of dental caries (1,2). Glass ionomers (GIs) are considered important in this regard due to their exceptionally high fluoride release (3,4). Multiple factors, including daily exposure to fluoridated dentifrices, affect the release of fluoride from GIs (5-7). Exposure to 1,250 ppm fluoride slurry for 5 min was shown to significantly increase fluoride release from compomer specimens (8). Furthermore, fluoride re-release from GIs is reportedly increased by brushing the specimens instead of merely storing them in a dentifrice slurry (9). A lower, but more transient and sustained, fluoride release has shown to play a significant role in caries prevention (10). To the best of our knowledge, the effect of brushing with dentifrice slurries containing different abrasive levels on fluoride release of high-viscosity GIs has not been previously reported. Slurries with high abrasive content could enhance fluoride release from GIs owing to the faster abrasion of such materials and exposing deeper, more fluoride-rich layers.The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of brushing with two levels of abrasives on fluoride release from high-viscosity GIs. We hypothesized that brushing with slurries containing higher abrasive levels would enhance fluoride release from the GI material.
Materials and Methods
Specimen preparationTo minimize the possible effects of pigments and other GI ingredients, a single shade (A2) of a high-viscosity GI