• Chanthip Suksaroj D.D.S., M.S.
• Supaporn Chongvisal D.D.S., M.S., Diplomate Thai Board of Pediatric Dentistry, Diplomate American Board of Pediatric Dentistry
• Chaiwat Maneenut, D.D.S., M.Sc., PhD.

Objective The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of a local made 1.23%
acidulated phosphate fluoride (APF) gel with imported products to inhibit artificial caries formation.

Materials and methods The study included 36 human premolars extracted for orthodontic purpose.
Each tooth was divided into longitudinal tooth halves and polished to a flat enamel surface. Acidresistant
varnish was applied to each tooth half, leaving a window (1.5 x 2 mm) exposed on the buccal
surface. For each tooth, one half was randomly assigned to one of the treatment groups 1) Pascal
(Pascal, USA), 2) CU gel (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand) and 3) 60-Second gel (Germiphene,
Canada). The other half served as paired control. Fluoride gels were applied according to the
manufacturersû recommendations (4 minutes for group 1 and group 2, 1 minute for group 3). All
specimens were then exposed to artificial caries challenge pH-cycling treatment for 7 days. The
sections were obtained and immersed in water for polarized light study. Lesion depths were measured
with Adobe Photoshop (version 7).

Results It was found that the lesion depths in the control and test groups for Pascal gel were 89.81 ± 8.58
and 27.55 ± 9.16 μm, CU gel were 83.46 ± 16.45 and 27.04 ± 9.14 μm and 60-Second gel were 86.78
± 16.12 and 28.58 ± 9.55 μm respectively. The mean lesion depths were analyzed between test and
control group using paired t-test and between test groups using one way ANOVA at the significant
level of 0.05. A significant difference (p = 0.000) was found between the paired control and
APF- treated halves. No significant difference was found between the test groups and no significant
difference (p = 0.565) between APF-1min and 4 min groups.

Conclusion These results suggest that CU gel provided the same degree of artificial caries inhibition
as the other APF formulas.

(CU Dent J. 2010;33:221-28)