Light-induced fluorescence studies on dehydration of incipient enamel lesions

Changes in the hydration state of enamel affect its optical qualities, such as light scattering and fluorescence. In this study, the rate of fluorescence loss was measured when incipient enamel lesions with different de-remineralization history were left to dehydrate. Four groups of lesions were studied. In groups A, B and C, the lesions were prepared in vitro in an acid-gel system. Group A was kept as control, and groups B and C were remineralized (4 weeks) without and with 1 ppm F in solution, respectively. Group D consisted of natural incipient lesions. Enamel fluorescence was measured for all lesions immediately after removal from water and subsequently at short intervals for 30 min. The change in fluorescence with dehydration varied between the groups. In lesions from groups A and B, it followed a double exponential decrease, while in lesions from groups C and D, it followed a mono-exponential decrease. In all groups, the fluorescence of sound surfaces declined mono-exponentially. The 'fractional fluorescence difference', defined as (L(sound) - L(carious) )/L(sound), became constant after periods of dehydration of about 5, 5, 20 and 5 min for groups A to D, respectively. The observation of the change of fluorescence with dehydration should be taken into consideration when planning studies that use fluorescence as an assessment method. However, it might also be used to gain insight into the properties for fluid transport inside the various lesions, relevant to de-remineralization or fluoride treatments.