Associations between fluoride concentration in successive layers of human enamel and individual dental caries experience

• Published in: Archives of oral biology Vol. 24; no. 10; pp. 847 - 852
• Main Authors: Schamschula, R.G., Agus, Helen, Charlton, G., Duppenthaler, J.L., Un, Pauline
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 1979
• Subjects: Adolescent; Bicuspid - metabolism; Dental Caries - metabolism; Dental Enamel - metabolism; Dentistry; DMF Index; Female; Fluorides - metabolism; Humans; Male; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0003-9969; 1879-1506
• DOI: 10.1016/0003-9969(79)90049-9

Serial acid applications were used for sampling 10 successive layers of clinically sound labial enamel of 36 upper premolar teeth extracted from 14- to 16-year-old patients whose caries experience ranged from 0 to 25 DMFT. The mean depths of layers at their centres ranged from 0.36 μm, SD 0.04, to 140.2 μm, SD 10.8; corresponding mean F concentrations were 1737 parts/10 6, and 62 parts/10 6. No associations were found between DMFT and layer depth, as a measure of solubility, or the F concentration in the surface enamel layer. Consistent inverse associations were demonstrated between DMFT and the F concentration of enamel in subsurface and deep layers over the whole sample and for all age groups separately. At 4.2 μm and in deeper layers, 32–45 per cent of variation in DMFT could be explained in terms of variation in the F content of enamel. The results suggest that surface samples confuse the relation between caries experience and the internal F content of enamel.