Fluorine Content of Superficial Enamel Layer and Its Correlation with the Fluorine Content of Saliva, Tooth Age, and DMFT Count

¹ Department of Preventive Dentistry, Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dentistry, founded by the Alpha-Omega Fraternity, Jerusalem, Israel

The superficial enamel layer of 30 extracted human permanent teeth of different eruption periods and 27 saliva samples were analyzed for fluorine. The fluorine content in the superficial enamel samples varied between 100 and 1,000 ppm and in the saliva samples between 0.04 and 0.46 ppm.

No significant correlations between the fluorine content of the superficial enamel and [see table in the PDF file] the fluorine content in saliva, on the one hand, and the dental caries experience, on the other, were established. The correlation between the fluorine content in the superficial enamel and tooth age after eruption was statistically significant.