The precision of three enamel biopsy methods for fluoride determination

3 different enamel biopsy methods were tested on 2 maxillary permanent incisors on each of 90 schoolchildren. In methods A and B the round biopsy field was bordered by copalite varnish, while method C utilized a scotch tape border. The biopsy itself resulted from etching the enamel surface with 2N perchloric acid for 7 sec for method A, and 14 sec for methods B and C. Flouride was measured with the fluoride activity electrode. The doubled etching time caused only a 30 to 40% increase of enamel removal. Method C showed the best reproducibility.