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Non-fluoride Material to Prevent Tooth Erosion from Soft Drinks
T. Wang, Y. Lei, J.W. Mitchell, L. Zaidel, J. Qiu, L. Kilpatrick-Liverman
Howard University, College of Engineering, Nano-Center and College of Dentistry, US
Keywords: tooth erosion, oral care, fluoride, polymer, surface coating
Summary:
With increasing amount of consumption of acidic food and soft drinks, dental erosion, the mineral loss due to acids, is becoming a major concern. Currently, the representative strategy to prevent dental erosion is to use fluoride additive. However, overtaking an excess amount of fluoride may cause fluorosis risk, particularly for children below 3 year-old. The goal of this project is to develop an alternative non-fluoride material for erosion prevention. The strategy is to synthesize a new block copolymer consisting with a hydrophilic block and a hydrophobic block by using a reversible addition fragmentation polymerization. The hypothesis is that the hydrophobic block can form a layer to reduce the mineral loss from enamel, while the hydrophilic block can bind to the enamel surface. Polymer structures were well controlled and the binding to enamel was confirmed by FTIR and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Atomic absorption and scanning electron microscope confirmed that polymer treatment reduced the erosion by 30% and could effectively protect enamel morphology from acid erosion. This new material has the great potential to be integrated into dentifrices or mouth rinses as the non-fluoride ingredient to reduce tooth erosion by soft drinks and acidic food, but completely avoid fluorosis side effect
