Fluoridated milk enhances the mineral density of artificial proximal carious lesions in situ

Abstract

Objective

To compare the mineral density (MD) of non-fluoridated-milk (non-F-milk), fluoridated-milk (F-milk), adjunctive to 1000-ppm-fluoride dentifrice (FD), and 1000-ppm-FD alone of proximal artificial enamel carious lesions (AECL) in high caries-risk patients.

Materials and methods

This double-blind, cross-over in situ study comprised seven high caries-risk volunteers. Orthodontic brackets with one slab of AECL were fixed randomly to each volunteer per phase. The study comprised three experimental periods with a 7-d wash-out period using FD between sessions; (1) A four-week tooth brushing with FD 2×/day by all subjects as a control. The participants were then randomly allocated to (2) drinking 2.5-ppm-F-milk 1×/day or (3) non-F-milk 1×/day, adjunctive to tooth-brushing with FD for 4-weeks. The subjects crossed over from each type of milk and continued the same protocol for another four weeks. After each phase, the MD of each specimen was analyzed using micro-computed tomography (Micro-CT).

Results

The baseline MD was not significantly differences (p = .653). When brushing with FD and drinking F-milk, the MD gain was significantly higher (11.68 ± 2.89%) compared with brushing with FD and drinking non-F-milk (4.59 ± 1.78%) (p = .003) or brushing with FD alone (5.30 ± 2.10%) (p = .003).

Conclusions

F-milk adjunctive to FD significantly increased MD gain compared with non-F-milk + FD or FD alone.

Keywords:

• Fluoridated milk
• fluoride
• proximal caries
• remineralization
• micro-CT

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Kevin Tompkins for manuscript revision.

Disclosure statement

The milk and F-milk were supplied by Wangnamyen Dairy Cooperative limited, Sakaeo, Thailand. There is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University under the Dental Research Fund, Dental Research Project (No. 2017/28).