Fluoride Deposition in Human Enamel In Vivo from Professionally Applied Fluoride Prophylaxis Paste

Deciduous teeth were collected from children who received professional prophylaxis with an acidulated phosphate-fluoride (APF) or placebo paste and were analyzed to deter-mine fluoride uptake. Enamel fluoride level was increased by the APF paste approxi-mately 300 ppm at a depth of 2.5 microm-eters during the first month after the pro-phylaxis was administered, after which it returned to pretreatment levels. Fluoride-containing prophylaxis pastes have been used in routine dental cleaning pro-cedures and for self-application of topical fluoride by toothbrushing. Although several clinical trials have been conducted in which fluoride prophylaxis pastes were used in self-brushing procedures, in only one study was the fluoride paste applied professionally. In that study, conducted by DePaola,1 the paste had an acidulated phosphate-fluoride (APF) formulation with the liquid phase containing 1.2 % fluoride, from ammonium fluorosili-cate, and 0.1 M phosphate, and having a pH of 3.2.a Analysis of deciduous teeth exfoli-ated by children who received three or four paste applications showed that fluoride was deposited in the enamel as a result of the treatment. This article presents the findings of flu-oride uptake in vivo by deciduous teeth in a second clinical trial in which the same flu-oride-containing prophylaxis paste was pro-fessionally applied