Adsorption of aminefluorides on human enamel

Changes in surface characteristics of ground and polished human enamel after adsorption of two types of aminefluorides (AmF 297 and AmF 335) have been studied. After adsorption of aminefluorides from solutions with concentrations up to 10 mM for 2 min followed by rinsing of the surface with distilled water, contact angle measurements were carried out to yield surface free energies and ellipsometry was performed to yield the adsorbed layer thickness. In a separate experiment on powdered enamel, set up in an analogous way, zeta potential changes after adsorption of aminefluorides were determined in a 10 mM potassium phosphate buffer at pH 7·0. Surface free energies decreased from 88 erg·cm−2 to 52 erg·cm−2 and 35 erg·cm−1 after adsorption of AmF 297 and AmF 335 respectively at c = 1 mM. Increasing the aminefluoride concentration in solution did not affect the values obtained. Zeta potentials, originally −36 mV, became positive after adsorption, while ellipsometry indicated the buildup of adsorbed layers with a thickness between 3 run and 12 nm. All three types of experiments indicated that both AmF 297 and AmF 335 form an adsorbed monolayer on ground and polished enamel at a concentration of 1 mM. Negligible additional adsorption takes place at higher concentrations under the present experimental circumstances. In vivo, adsorbed aminefluoride layers will be rapidly covered by adsorbed protein layers, shielding both the adsorbed aminefluoride layer as well as its physicochemical characteristics. This effect has been studied in vivo by measuring surface free energy changes of ground and polished enamel, with AmF 297 and AmF 335 adsorbed at c = 2·5 mM as a function of the time, these samples were carried by test persons in partial dentures. On both types of AmF-coated enamel the surface free energies increased within 30 min to values approaching the one obtained previously for pellicle-coated ground and polished enamel (110 ± 9 erg·cm−2).