Introduction: In-office bleaching is a conservative and effective esthetic dental procedure, but it has a serious effect on the enamel matrix structure's integrity, altering its surface microhardness (SMH). Therefore, the use of different remineralizing approaches (reparative or regenerative) after vital bleaching procedures is recommended to improve the SMH of the bleached enamel.
Aim of the study: The purpose of this study was to see how different remineralization approaches influenced the SMH of the bleached enamel.
Materials and methods: Crowns of 57 extracted human maxillary central incisors were bleached with a chemically activated bleaching gel containing 40% hydrogen peroxide. Then, based on the remineralizing agent that would be used after bleaching, they were randomly categorized into 3 groups (n=19). Group, I was self-assembling peptide, Group II was casein phosphopeptide stabilized amorphous calcium phosphate ‘CAP-ACP' and Group III was sodium fluoride. The specimen's SMH was measured before bleaching, after bleaching, 24 hours, and 1 week after remineralization using a Vickers microhardness tester.
Results: There was a statistically significant increase in Vickers Hardness Number (VHN) across the three study groups only 24 hours following remineralization. The highest VHN was recorded for Gp I, followed by Gp II, followed by Gp III, with the statistical significance only between group I and group III.
Conclusions: The best results were obtained with the self-assembling peptide over both CCP-ACP and sodium fluoride 24 hrs. from its application in SMH recovery.