Effects Of Tooth-Whitening Agent On Enamel And Dentin: A Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy Study

Choi, Nak Joon; Vang, Mong Sook; Park, Ha Ok

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to estimate the effect of a bleaching agent on tooth surfaces and to evaluate the resin bond strength according to different surface treatments on bleached teeth.To prepare for the experimental samples,first,extracted human third molars were used and the body portions of the crowns were cut into four equal-sized specimens.Next,each specimen was mounted in an plastic bottle with self-cured resin and highly polished to have them reveal the enamel or dentin surfaces.Then,the enamel(E)and dentin(D)specimens were divided into four; 1) non-bleached,laser-treated(NBLA)group 2)bleached,laser-treated(BLLA)group 3)non-bleached,acid-treated(NBAC)group and 4)bleached,acid-treated(BLAC)group.Here,opales-cence(R)(10%carbamide peroxide)was used for bleaching agent.The treated specimens were observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy and bonded with composite resin for shear bond test. The following results were obtained from this experiment : 1. Compared with the ENB group,the EBL group was shown to be dyed about 20 micrometer deeper with rhodamine B.The DBL group appeared to be caved in at the entry part of the dentinal tubules, was dyed about 20 micrometer deeper and 5 micrometer wider in diameter,compared with the DNB group. 2. In comparison with the EBLAC group,the ENBAC group looked evenly bonded with the resin, while the DNBAC group,compared to DBLAC group,was observed to have its resin tags penetrated about 50 micrometer deeper.Other than those,however,no observable differences between ENBLA and EBLLA group or between DNBLA and DBLLA group were found. 3. At the shear bond test,the ENBAC group was shown to have statistically significant higher shear bond strength than the EBLAC group(p<0.05).No statistically significant differences between the ENBLA and the EBLLA groups were observed(p>0.05). 4. At the shear bond test,the DNBAC group was shown to have statistically significant higher shear bond strength than the DBLAC group(p<0.05).No statistically significant differences between the DNBLA and the DBLLA groups were observed(p>0.05). The in vitro observations above suggest that tooth-bleaching procedure brings a certain change on enamel and dentin surfaces and it weakens the shear bond strength with composite resin when the bleached tooth was acid-treated.