Ultraphosphate, a potent stain control agent that is effective for both stain removal and prevention of stain deposition

Abstract

Polyphosphate is a phosphate polymer which is effective for stain removal and prevention of stain deposition. Ultraphosphate belongs to the polyphosphate group and has a highly branched mesh-like structure. To evaluate stain control ability of ultraphosphate, we used HAP powder, glass-ionomer cement and detached human teeth for models of in vitro stain control experiments. When using HAP powder, the stain removal ability of ultraphosphate was the highest among common chelating agents. In addition, ultraphosphate efficiently removed stain and prevented stain deposition on glass-ionomer cement at 20°C and 37°C. Finally, ultraphosphate removed coffee stain from human teeth surface efficiently and the color difference (ΔE*ab) before and after ultraphosphate treatment was changed dramatically from 59.4 to 8.3. Similarly, the ΔE*ab value of human teeth treated with ultraphosphate before coffee treatment was only 9.9, while the value without ultraphosphate pre-treatment was 21.2. These results indicate that ultraphosphate is a potent agent for stain control.