SAO PAULO, Brazil: Researchers at the University of São Paulo have found that Vitamin E could protect dental enamel against erosion.
Daniela Rios and colleagues found this association by assessing the in-vitro effect of different components of palm oil on enamel in a short-term erosive challenge.
To conduct a study, they use bovine enamel blocks treated with the solutions described in the results below separately and then immersed in citric acid. The following results have been analysed, which lead to the finding-
The positive control (stannous-containing solution, i.e.Elmex® Erosion Protection), palm oil, and oily vitamin E groups showed the lowest enamel surface hardness loss.
The negative control (deionised water), tocotrienol solution and oily vitamin A groups almost presented the same results, i.e. no protective effect.
The results concluded that Vitamin E in palm oil is the key component in protecting the enamel from erosion. They further added that Vitamin E could be a promising natural alternative for the formulations of solutions aiming to prevent erosive tooth wear.
The study " Vitamin E: A potential preventive approach against dental erosion-an in vitro short-term erosive study " was published online ahead of issue in the Journal of Dentistry.