In vivo remineralization of artificial subsurface lesions in human enamel. I.

In this paper in vivo remineralization of artificial subsurface lesions in human enamel, placed in partial prostheses of 30 patients during 3 months is presented. The patients were divided into 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. Microhardness indentation measurements were carried out at the start of the experiment and after 2, 4, 16, 20, 44, 58 and 87 days. After 3 months, the indentation length reductions (in %) were for group A, B and C 16, 13 and 20%, respectively. These differences were all statistically significant at least at the p less than 0.05 level. In conclusion, subsurface lesions remineralize very slowly in vivo, much slower than in vitro situations. The remineralization rate is relatively fast in the first 2 weeks; for longer periods the remineralization rate of subsurface enamel lesions is very slow.