2024 Volume 33 Issue 1 Pages 39-46
Based on the concept of minimal intervention (MI) in dental treatment, a mixture of amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) and HEPES (2-[4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazinyl] ethanesulfonic acid) buffer solution (ACP + HEPES) was prepared with the objective of using an inorganic material equivalent to tooth substance as a dental restoration material and performing pulp protection treatment. In this study, a stoichiometric investigation of this solution was conducted, an experimental model of dentin caries lesions was prepared, and the effect on mineralization when the ACP + HEPES mixture was used to fill the dentin was evaluated. It was found that, 20 minutes after the cavity was filled with the ACP + HEPES buffer mixture, the ACP filler has undergone a phase transition, and hydroxyapatite (HAP) was deposited. Simultaneously, the ions eluted from the ACP had permeated the demineralized dentin caries lesion, restoring the mineral content of the demineralized dentin by more than 13%. This indicates that not only are calcium and phosphate ions supplied to the demineralized dentin continuously from the ACP + HEPES buffer mixture, but also that ACP fillings crystallize as HAP in a short period of time.
