This investigation was undertaken to evaluate acid resistance of the surface enamel in vivo by the agar plate method reported by TAKEUCHI and KAWASAKI in 1963.The agar plate used in this study were made of agar 0.5% weight/volume) and 0.1M lactic acid-sodium lactate buffer solution, pH 4.5, mixed together by heating in a water bath for 20 minutes and left standing for 24 hours to solidity in a glass vessel of 2mm in depth. Circular plates of 6.5mm in diameter were cut out for experimental use. The surface of the upper central incisor was polished with a slurry of pumice and glycerin and then washed with re-distilled water and dried with compressed air. The plate was placed on the tooth surface for various periods of time to determine the effective time for application in vivo. After application, the phosphorus dissolved from the enamel was estimated by spectrophotometric determination with molybdate-safranin.The subjects were 366 children chosen at random from 1, 036 pupils of the 4th grade (9-10 years old) of elementary school. Fortyseven children were subjected to the application of an agar plate for 5 minutes and 317 of children for 3 minutes.In the case of 5-minute application, the mean value of phosphorus dissolved from the enamel was 1.87μg and the standard deviation was 0.39μg. For the 3-minute application, the values of mean and standard deviation were 1.60μg and 0.38μg, respectively.The data revealed that the distribution of phosphorus dissolved from the enamel showed a fairly normal pattern. With these experiments, the possibility of evaluation of acid resistance of enamel in vivo system by means of the agar plate method devised in this laboratory was demonstrated.Moreover, six female subiects aged 18-20 were studied to determine an appropriate time for in vivo application. The experimental times were set from one to five minutes for each analysis. The results showed that phosphorus dissolved from the enamel in these samples increased with increasing the time of application, notwithstanding the magnitude of acid resistance of individual enamel.From the data in this study, the 3-minute application of the agar plate in vivo seemed to be the best, since it obtains enough phosphorus for analysis with a minimum of trouble to the patient and takes into account possible error in measuring the time.
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