Infiltrants inhibit progression of natural caries lesions in vitro

To define the optimized material properties of caries-infiltrating resins (infiltrants),we evaluated the effects of infiltrant composition and penetration coefficient (pc) on the inhibition of the progression of natural approximal caries lesions in vitro. non-cavitated natural enamel lesions were etched (15% hcl gel) and infiltrated for 5 min with experimental resins varying in pc (cm/sec): pc63,pc185,pc204,and pc391. as a positive control (posc),lesions were covered with flowable composite resin,whereas untreated lesions served as negative controls (negc). specimens were exposed to a demineralizing solution (ph 4.95) for 400 days. progression of mineral loss was analyzed by transverse wavelength-independent microradiography. percentage progressions of negc [median (25th/ 75th percentile),24 (10/56)],pc63 [9 (3/39)],and pc185 [12 (9/24)] were significantly higher compared with those of posc [1 (-8/8)],pc204 [-2 (-4/2)],and pc391 [0 (-5/9)] (p < 0.05). thus,infiltrants with pc > 200 cm/sec are capable of inhibiting lesion progression.© 2010 international & american associations for dental research.