The ability of fruit teas to remove the smear layer: an in vitro study of tubule patency

Summary 

Objectives

Fruit teas are know to have an erosive effect on enamel, but the effects on dentine are unknown. Lesions of dentine hypersensitivity have numerous patent dentinal tubules and the aim of this paper was to examine the ability of various fruit teas to remove the smear layer.

Methods

The erosive potential of a variety of fruit teas was assessed in the laboratory by measuring their pH and neutralisable acidity. Smeared dentine specimens were prepared from extracted teeth and the ability of each tea to remove the smear layer was assessed by measuring the diameter and area of the opened tubules and counting the number of patent tubules seen in a unit area using scanning electron microscopy. A 0.2% citric acid solution was used as a positive control.

Results

The pH of the fruit teas ranged from 2.98 to 3.95 and the neutralisable acidity ranged from 10.63 to 33.0ml of 0.1M NaOH. All the fruit teas tested were able to remove the smear layer. The mean diameter of the tubules ranged from 0.61 to 1.14μm and the mean area ranged from 0.31 to 1.03μm². The number of patent tubules per specimen ranged from 13 to 121.

Conclusion

All the fruit teas tested were found to be highly acidic and able to remove the smear layer.

Keywords: Dentine sensitivity, Smear layer, Fruit teas