Peppermint flavor oil in fluoride varnishes enhances fluoride release

Background: Fluoride varnish (FV) is a common dental health treatment for the prevention of early childhood caries. Application of FV with a flavoring agent promotes comfort and acceptance by patients, especially children, and facilitates an effective treatment time. Objective: Flavored FV with a pleasant flavor should allow a faster treatment time, especially with children. The aim of this research was to study basic FV formulations containing different flavors of essential oils (LorAnn) and variations in the concentrations of flavor oils to determine the optimum formulation to enhance the in vitro fluoride release time. Methods: The independent variables were the flavors (apple, melon, and peppermint) and the concentrations (1, 1.5, 2, or 2.5%) of the flavor that gave the best fluoride release (peppermint). The amounts of fluoride ions released in 6 h into deionized water were assessed at 37°C using an ion-selective electrode with the addition of fluoride total ionic strength adjustment buffer solution to strengthen the ion reading. The cumulative ion release was analyzed for normality and equality of variance, and the means were compared using a general linear model test and Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23.0 software. The significance level was set at α = 0.05. Results: At the same concentration of 2% for the apple, melon, and peppermint flavors, the peppermint formulation gave the best fluoride release, at 173.22 mg/L. A peppermint oil concentration of 2.5% showed the highest fluoride ion release, at 178.95 mg/L. Conclusions: The addition of peppermint flavor oil at a concentration range of 1—2.5% revealed an increasing release of fluoride ions with an increasing peppermint oil concentration. Further investigations are still needed using artificial saliva to replicate actual conditions in the oral cavity.