An evaluation of three lubricants in reducing human enamel wear : In vitro study

Abstract EN

Background : management of tooth wear from grinding presents a significant clinical challenge.

Acrylic night guards are often used to protect the teeth.

The long term objective is to find a simple approach to control tooth wear as an alternative to the use of night guards.

This in vitro study aimed to assess the effectiveness of three lubricants in reducing enamel wear.

Materials and Methods : Thirty two extracted human third molar were selected, randomly assigned in to four groups of eight teeth each, teeth were sectioned longitudinally in to two halves (buccal and lingual ), the sectioned specimens were opposed each other in an electro mechanical wear machine under a load of 3 Kgs.

The machine simulated tooth grinding for (20000) wear cycles.

The experiment was repeated for another (20000) wear cycles under four different conditions : Group I : without using lubricants.

Group II : The use of dry lubricant (Calcium Fluoride Ca F powder).

Group III: The use of Olive-Oil.

Group IV : The use of combination of Calcium Fluoride / Olive-Oil slurry.

Wear rates of enamel were quantified by weighing the specimens before and after the use of lubricants.

Analysis of variance ANOVA test was performed between experimental groups to test the differences of wear rates among the four groups.

Results : All three lubricants reduced enamel wear significantly when compared with wearing specimens without adding lubricants.

Wear rates were significantly less for Olive-Oil, and Ca F / Olive- Oil slurry compared with Ca F alone, while there was no significant difference between the use of olive oil alone and the use of Ca F / Olive-Oil slurry.

Conclusion : it was confirmed that each of the three lubricants reduced the wear rates of enamel substantially during tooth grinding when compared with wear rates of enamel without lubricant.

This study also confirmed that Olive-Oil is very effective lubricant.