Effect of topical fluoride treatments on fluoride distribution during in vitro caries-like lesion formation

Tooth sections were treated in vitro for 4 min with APF, SnF2, or received no treatment. Each treatment group then received washes of KOH, (24 h), an inorganic solution (24 h), or DDH2O (2 min) and were placed into dialyzed 15% w/v gel (pH 4.3) containing 0.15 mM hydroxyapatite, but no fluoride (less than 0.02 ppm F). Adjacent nontreated sound enamel acted as the control. Lesion microdissection, after 2 weeks exposure to the acidified gel, revealed an inverse relationship between lesion body fluoride concentration and lesion depth. The lesion depth was smallest, and the lesion body fluoride concentration was greatest in both fluoride-treated groups after a 2-min DDH2O wash, a 24-hour inorganic wash, and a 24-hour KOH wash, respectively. These data support the theory that the progress of carious lesions is related to the fluoride concentration in the lesion and that the fluoride concentration in the lesion is related to the acquired fluoride concentration in sound enamel.