Vitamin E a potential natural option for protecting dental erosion: Study

A study was conducted by a group of researchers from Brazil and Switzerland to evaluate the in vitro effect of different components of palm oil on enamel in a short-term erosive challenge.

The acquired enamel pellicle (AEP) was previously formed in situ for 2 h. Subsequently, the bovine enamel blocks were treated in vitro according to the following solutions: G1–palm oil; G2–85% tocotrienol solution; G3–oily vitamin E; G4–oily vitamin A; G5–deionized water (negative control); G6-stannous-containing solution (positive control). After application of the treatment solutions (500 µl, 30 s), the blocks were immersed in 0.5% citric acid (pH 2.4) during 30 s (initial erosion). The response variable was the percentage of surface hardness loss. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Fisher's Test (p < 0.05).

The results of the study are as follows:

• The positive control (G6), palm oil (G1) and oily vitamin E (G3) groups presented the lowest percentage of surface hardness loss, and were statistically different from the negative group (G5), and no differences were found between these three groups.
• The 85% tocotrienol solution (G2) and oily vitamin A groups (G4) were not different to the negative control group.

Thus, the researchers concluded that Stannous-containing positive control, palm oil and oily Vitamin E was able to protect enamel against the erosive challenge performed in this in vitro study. In addition, vitamin E is probably the key ingredient of palm oil responsible for preventing enamel erosion.

Reference:

Vitamin E: A potential preventive approach against dental erosion-an in vitro short-term an erosive study by Rios D et. al published in the Journal of Dentistry

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdent.2021.103781