Dental erosion is an increasing problem in many countries around the world, and research in this field has increased dramatically in recent years. Dental erosion is the dissolution of tooth tissues by acids that are not of bacterial origin; most commonly these originate from the diet. Methods to reduce erosion are of great import; the application of milk-derived proteins such as casein and casein-derived proteins are of current interest as anti-erosion agents and are the subject of the work presented here in this thesis. The efficacy of casein and casein-derived proteins as agents to inhibit dissolution of hydroxyapatite in simple citric acid solutions are investigated in chapters 3 and 4 with two different in vitro models. It was found that these proteins inhibit hydroxyapatite dissolution over a range of erosion timescales, concentrations and exposure times. The effect of an in vitro formed salivary pellicle is also examined and the proteins were shown to retain their efficacy. The efficacy of these proteins to inhibit the earliest stages of erosion (surface softening) and more progressed stages of erosion (bulk tissue loss) are investigated in chapter 5 using atomic force microscopy nanoindentation and non-contact optical profilometry respectively. It was found that again these proteins inhibit both surface softening and bulk tissue loss of bovine enamel. The nature of the protective mechanism due to casein is investigated in chapter 6 using a range of complementary, inter-disciplinary techniques such as atomic force microscopy, x-ray reflectometry and sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The protective effect is ascribed to a thin protein film, of 6.6 nm in thickness, forming on the mineral surface. In conclusion, casein and casein-derived proteins are shown to have anti-erosion properties and potential as oral healthcare products.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:550331 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | White, Andrew John |
| Publisher | University of Bristol |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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