Development of a standardized abrasive scale: an analysis of commercial prophylaxis pastes

Purpose. Currently, no standard abrasive scale exists for dental prophylaxis pastes. Manufacturers determine their definitions of abrasive grit levels. The purpose of this study was to measure resulting surface roughness on bovine enamel of a representative sample of prophylaxis pastes. Materials and Methods. The study consisted of an eight-item, descriptive survey of prophylaxis paste manufacturers to gather information, a pilot study to determine testing variables, and an actual analysis of bovine tooth specimens. The sample comprised prophylaxis pastes, pumice, and toothpaste. Pumice was chosen as the standard for abrasive testing, and toothpaste was selected because it is recommended as an alternative when performing selective polishing. Equipment was constructed for applying a slurry of abrasives to mounted mandibular bovine incisor specimens at 2500 rpm for five seconds under a load of 145 g. Seven specimens were subjected to testing for each of the 17 prophylaxis pastes, toothpaste, and fine pumice, totaling 133 test specimens. Pretest and posttest surface roughness readings were recorded using a surface roughness tester equipped with a diamond tip stylus. Repeated measures ANOVA was used for statistical analysis to remove the variability from specimen to specimen, so that for each paste the pretest versus the posttest may be evaluated independent of specimens. Results. Repeated measures ANOVA determined that changes in roughness were significantly different among all pastes (p