Brushing effect of abrasive dentifrices during at-home bleaching with 10% carbamide peroxide on enamel surface roughness.

During tooth bleaching abrasive dentifrices might change the outer superficial enamel. The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the roughness of human enamel exposed to a 10% carbamide peroxide bleaching agent at different times and submitted to different superficial cleaning treatments. The study consisted of 60 sound human enamel slabs, randomly assigned to different treatment groups: G1--not brushed; G2--brushed with a fluoride abrasive dentifrice; G3--brushed with a non-fluoride abrasive dentifrice; and G4--brushed without a dentifrice. There were 15 enamel slabs per group. Slabs of molar teeth were obtained and sequentially polished with sandpaper and abrasive pastes. A perfilometer was used to obtain the mean of Ra value on the surface of each specimen to initial and experimental times. Bleaching was performed on the enamel surface for six hours daily. After that, each slab received a cleaning surface treatment and was stored in artificial saliva. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's HSD hoc analysis (alpha =0.05) revealed significant differences in roughness values over time for enamel bleached and treated with different superficial cleaning methods. G1 and G4 showed no significant differences in roughness over time, G2 and G3 showed a significant increase in the surface roughness values. This in vitro investigation showed the sole use of 10% carbamide peroxide did not alter the enamel surface roughness, but the cleaning treatments that employed the use of brushing with abrasive dentifrices resulted in a significant increase of enamel surface roughness.