Microradiography of in vivo remineralized lesions in human enamel. II.

The purpose of this work was to investigate mineral deposition and redistribution in subsurface human artificial enamel lesions during in vivo remineralization period of 3 months. The enamel lesions were placed in lower prostheses of 30 patients, divided in 3 groups. Group A brushed daily with H2O; group B brushed with H2O and rinsed with a neutral 50 ppm F solution and group C brushed with a neutral 1500 ppm F toothpaste. The technique employed was microradiography. Initially the average vol % of mineral in the lesion body was 47%. After 3 months remineralization in vivo the vol % of mineral in the lesion body was for group A, B and C: 50.7, 48.7 and 53.1 vol %, respectively. The average lesion depth decreased for groups A, B and C 18, 13 and 25 microns respectively over 3 months. The original lesion depth was +/- 100 microns. The microradiographic data show conclusively that mineral is deposited "de novo" inside subsurface lesions. The remineralization percentages are for the control, rinse and brush group 20%, 15% and 31%, respectively.