ABSTRACT
Background: Fluoride, the pivot of preventive dentistry, continues to be the ideal agent for modern caries prevention philosophy. Differential release of fluoride has implications on cariostatic property of the commercially available materials and thus indicating the importance of fluoride release after the application. Therefore the objective of this study was to assess the difference in fluoride release from the commercially available NaF, SnF2 and APF as compared to controls at different time intervals. Methods: 40 caries free sound premolars were selected for the study and randomly divided into 4 groups (10 specimens each). Teeth specimens in each group were subjected to respective Fluoride treatment i.e. Group I (2% NaF), Group II (8% SnF2), Group III (1.23% APF) and Group IV (No Fluoride treatment). All specimens were immersed in deionized water and samples collected after 1 hour, 1 day and 1 week were subjected to Fluoride estimation. Results: At 1 hour time interval, highest amount of fluoride release ranging from 6.76 to 8.58 ppm was observed in Group II - SnF2 that was significantly higher than NaF and APF treated specimens. At 1-day time interval, Group II – SnF2 and Group III – APF showed a higher release of fluoride ranging from 0.81–0.93 and 0.61–0.79 ppm respectively. At 1-week time interval, the fluoride release almost reached baseline values in all the groups except in Group II – SnF2 that still maintained a high fluoride release ranging from 0.62–0.84 ppm. Conclusion: 8% SnF2 is expected to have greater anticaries potential than 2% NaF and 1.23% APF gel, due to its high fluoride releasing property for prolonged period of time.