Effectiveness of natural remineralizing agents on microhardness of white spot lesions: In vitro study

Purpose: This in vitro study is conducted to compare the effect of extracts of Ginger and Rosemary on the microhardness of white spot lesions to sodium fluoride varnish. Materials and methods: The current study used thirty extracted incisors. Ten teeth(n = 10) in each group had a remineralizing treatment: group 1:rosemary, group 2: ginger, and group 3: sodium fluoride varnish. A nail polish was applied on labial surfaces except to a window of 4x4mm and the microhardness test was done. Then all samples were immersed in demineralizing solution for four days to produce white spot lesions. Then testing microhardness was conducted. The remineralizing agents were applied to each group for ten days. The samples were immersed in artificial saliva between treatments. Lastly, microhardness test was conducted. Results: ANOVA test was used to Compare between groups. Comparison within the same group was performed using a paired t-test. The Fluoride group was not significantly different than the other 2 groups after remineralization, The mean value was 63.04±3.79 in the fluoride group, in comparison to 64.01±3.85 in the Ginger group and 62.20±3.91 in the Rosemary group. The mean value recorded in the rosemary group was significantly higher than ginger group (p=0.047). Considering the percent of change from Demineralization to remineralization the highest mean value of percentage increase occurred in the ginger group (34.50±18; median 30.98), succeeded by fluoride (30.49±15.54; median 32.53). Conclusions: Rosemary, ginger, and fluoride varnish reduce white spot lesions and are more favorable for prevention and remineralization of early enamel lesions.