The Influence of BioMinF® Toothpaste and Statherin Protein on Remineralisation of Hydroxyapatite Discs and Enamel

Abstract

Bioactive glasses have been used for a long time as bone substitutes. A bioactive glass dissolves in body fluids releasing calcium and phosphate and forms hydroxy carbonated apatite. Recently, bioactive glasses have been incorporated into toothpastes and numerous In vitro studies have discussed the effect of bioactive glasses on dental caries and hypersensitivity. BioMinF® toothpastes is an example of bioactive glasses that have been used to successfully treat dental hypersensitivity. BioMinF® toothpaste was designed and optimized specifically for use in toothpastes to help treat three main dilemmas: dental caries, acid erosion-dissolution of tooth surfaces, and dentine hypersensitivity. Statherin (StN) is a multifunctional acidic phosphopeptide secreted by the acinar cells of salivary glands. It has been proven that salivary protein statherin has a role in biomineralisation and diverge from the evolution of single primordial enamel matrix protein. Statherin is involved in the regulation of dental enamel growth through interfering with spontaneous precipitation of calcium and phosphate and by inhibition of crystal growth. In the first part of this thesis, the aim was to monitor the progress and rate of remineralisation of both enamel and hydroxyapatite discs following treatment with BioMinF® toothpaste and compare it to control group using scanning microradiography (SMR). In the second section, the first aim was to investigate the effect of BioMinF® toothpaste and Statherin protein (StN21) 3 on remineralisation of enamel and hydroxyapatite using X-ray microtomography (XMT). The second aim was to evaluate if synergistic remineralisation effect will occur after treatment of enamel and hydroxyapatite disc with a combination of Statherin (StN21) and BioMinF® toothpaste. In all experiments, both enamel and hydroxyapatite discs (HAP) were artificially demineralised for 72hrs followed by application of remineralisation agents (BioMinF® toothpaste or StN21) and then remineralised for 168hrs. XMT was used to provide multiple 2D images at different stages of the experiment and mineral concentration was calculated for each experiment and compared to other groups. In conclusion, the application of BioMinF® toothpaste twice daily potentially enhanced the remineralisation efficacy of hydroxyapatite discs and enamel compared to the untreated controls and StN21-treated samples. StN21 has neither enhanced nor reduced the remineralisation rate of hydroxyapatite discs and enamel. No added effect was observed when samples were treated with a combination of BioMinF® toothpaste and StN21