The potential of deciduous and permanent bovine enamel as substitute for deciduous and permanent human enamel: Erosion-abrasion experiments

Aim of the present study was to compare toothbrushing abrasion of eroded human and bovine enamel utilizing a toothpaste slurry. The surfaces of each 36 teeth from cattle and calves and from each 36 human wisdom teeth and deciduous teeth were polished. Each 12 specimens from the respective tooth type were used for assessing toothbrushing abrasion only (A), erosion only (E) and the combination of erosion and toothbrushing abrasion (EA). The EA samples were subjected to 20 cycles comprising a demineralization/remineralization procedure directly followed by toothbrushing abrasion (100 strokes, 300 g load, toothpaste slurry: 3 ml artificial saliva mixed with 1g dentifrice). Demineralization in form of erosion was performed with 1% citric acid (1 min), remineralization with artificial saliva (15 min). Between the cycles, the samples were stored in artificial saliva. Wear of the treated surfaces with reference to untreated areas was determined profilometrically. The samples subjected to abrasion only (A) did not show a significantly different wear between the different kinds of teeth. The comparisons of substance loss between teeth of different species revealed that hard tissue loss of the human deciduous teeth was significantly lower as compared to calves' teeth after both erosion and erosion-abrasion. Also, both erosion only and erosion-abrasion caused higher enamel loss in cattle's teeth than in human wisdom teeth. It is concluded that human eroded enamel offers better resistance against brushing than bovine enamel.