Effect of various demineralizing agents on mineral contents of cementum surfaces (an electron probe analysis).

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the surface morphology and mineral content of periodontally diseased cementum surfaces following root planing and conditioning with either citric acid, tetracycline HCL and minocycline HCL. Mineral contents of cementum surfaces were determined with an electron probe. All 3 demineralizing agents caused the exposure of the collagen matrix on the root surface but citric acid was the more effective. Calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) showed higher values in citric acid and minocycline HCL treated cementum surfaces compared to nondiseased cementum surfaces. The Ca and P were found to be in similar proportions in the tetracycline HCL treated group and nondiseased cementum surfaces. Although citric acid is a strong demineralizing agent, our specimens' cementum surfaces to which citric acid was treated showed high Ca and P content. In our opinion this difference about the effects of demineralizing agents on the surface morphology and surface element content was found to be related to the facts that whether the total amount of hypermineralized cementum as removed or not with root planing and the lacking criteria to detects the amount of this removal. Our findings suggest that these demineralizing agents can demineralize cementum surface after root planing but can not remove all of the hypermineralized diseased cementum. For this reason, it may be stated that it is more important to remove the pathologically altered cementum than applying various chemical agents.