A new fluoride-releasing rubber cup for professional oral hygiene

Rubber cups in combination with prophylaxis pastes are commonly used for supragingival professional tooth cleaning. This procedure requires frequent interruption in order to collect fresh paste. Moreover, the paste-saliva slurry blurs the visibility, which implies intermittent rinsing to look for residual discolorations. Hawe Neos Dental (Bioggio, Switzerland) has developed a new prophylaxis cup aimed at cleaning and smoothing the tooth surfaces, while simultaneously fluoridating the enamel without a prophylaxis paste. This new prophylaxis cup was tested with respect to cleaning efficiency, resulting surface roughness, abrasivity, and the promotion of fluoride uptake into enamel. After 15 seconds of use, the new cup showed a cleaning efficiency which was 20 to 30% higher than that of a conventional rubber cup (p < 0.01) used with the prophylaxis pastes Nupro coarse or Hawe cleanic (78% vs. 57 and 49%). The fluoride cup had a smoothing effect on the enamel surface comparable to that effected by the two prophylaxis pastes. The abrasivity on enamel was lowest with the new cup. On dentin, abrasivity was comparable to Nupro coarse, but higher than with Hawe cleanic. The fluoride cup also produced a higher amount of KOH-soluble fluoride on the enamel surface when compared to Hawe cleanic. With respect to the structurally bound fluoride, no difference was found. The newly developed fluoride releasing Hawe Neos cup represents an effective alternative to conventional procedures for supragingival professional tooth cleaning on enamel.