Aims: The study was aimed to establish the influence of toothpaste fluoride (F) concentration on salivary F levels and pH in order to evaluate oral F retention.
Material and methods: Thirty-four healthy young volunteers participated in this study performed on two separate occasions in which the subjects brushed their teeth with low- and conventional fluoridated dentifrices: 1) 500 ppmF and 2) 1450 ppmF. Three samples of whole unstimulated saliva were collected from each participant in all occasions: T1 – before brushing (baseline), T2 – right after brushing and T3 – 60 min. after completing each experimental procedure. Salivary pH and F concentration were determined. The Mann-Withney test was used for statistical analysis.
Results: The mean salivary F values (mean value±SD) measured right after toothbrushing were 1.439±0.732 when low-fluoride dentifrice was used and 4.160±2.53 with 1450 ppmF toothpaste, respectively. One hour after toothbrushing salivary F decreased significantly compared to the T2 values (p<0.001), however remained significantly higher than baseline in both occasions: 1) 0.159±0.026 (T3), and 2) 0.29±0.206 (T3). No significant differences could be observed between the salivary pH values.
Conclusions: After toothbrushing with fluoridated toothpaste containing 500 ppmF and 1450 ppmF, salivary F concentration increased significantly and remained elevated above the baseline one hour after brushing. The results suggests that toothpaste with higher F concentration could have more efficacy in caries prevention. Salivary pH is not influenced by fluoride content of dentifrices.