Novel hydroxyapatite nanorods improve anti-caries efficacy of enamel infiltrants

Objectives. Enamel resin infiltrants are biomaterials able to treat enamel caries at early stages. Nevertheless, they cannot prevent further demineralization of mineral-depleted enamel. Therefore, the aim of this work was to synthesize and incorporate specific hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (HAps) into the resin infiltrant to overcome this issue. Methods. HAps were prepared using a hydrothermal method (0 h, 2 h and 5 h). The crystallinity, crystallite size and morphology of the nanoparticles were characterized through XRD, FT-IR and TEM. HAps were then incorporated (10 wt%) into a light-curing co-monomer resin blend (control) to create different resin-based enamel infiltrants (HAp-0 h, HAp-2 h and HAp-S h), whose degree of conversion (DC) was assessed by FT-IR. Enamel caries lesions were first artificially created in extracted human molars and infiltrated using the tested resin infiltrants. Specimens were submitted to pH-cycling to simulate recurrent caries. Knoop microhardness of resin-infiltrated underlying and surrounding enamel was analyzed before and after pH challenge. Results. Whilst HAp-0 h resulted amorphous, HAp-2 h and HAp-S h presented nanorod morphology and higher crystallinity. Resin infiltration doped with HAp-2 h and HAp-S h caused higher enamel resistance against demineralization compared to control HAp-free and HAp-0 h infiltration. The inclusion of more crystalline HAp nanorods (HAp-2 h and HAp-S h) increased significantly (p < 0.05) the DC. Significance. Incorporation of more crystalline HAp nanorods into enamel resin infiltrants may be a feasible method to improve the overall performance in the prevention of recurrent demineralization (e.g. caries lesion) in resin-infiltrated enamel. (C) 2016 Academy of Dental Materials. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.