ENAMEL RE-MINERALIZING CAPACITY OF GRAPE SEED EXTRACT (GSE)- A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Introduction: Dental caries is an infectious disease caused by acidogenic bacteria leading to dissolution of enamel, dentin and cementum. If a suitable treatment plan is formulated for initial carious lesions, they are capable of arresting hardening and then reverting to their healthy state. Various commercially available re-mineralizing agents have been used over the years. Recently several plant extracts have been studied. Grape seed, cranberry, guava leaves are some of the plant products extensively studied. Grape seed extract is mainly derived from the seeds of the grapes. It is rich in antioxidants and oligomeric proanthocyanin complexes and has been linked to a wide range of possible health benefits.

Objective: To determine by means of systematic review the various studies and literature where in grape seed extract was used as a re- mineralizing agent.

Materials and Methods: A search was performed in electronic database (i.e. PUBMED CENTRAL and Medline) using search terms such as enamel re-mineralization, enamel re-mineralizing agents, grape seed extract, de-mineralized enamel etc. alone and in combination by means of PUBMED search builder. Inclusion criteria included In vivo or ex vivo studies in which the re-mineralizing capacity of Grape Seed Extract (GSE) was compared with other re-mineralizing agents.

Results: A total of 3 publications fulfilled all criteria for inclusion. All studies included showed that Grape Seed Extract (GSE) had significant or positive re-mineralizing capacity on enamel. However, one study showed that the re-mineralizing capacity was inferior in comparison to other commercially available re-mineralizing agents (Standard Stannous Fluoride).

Conclusion: With the available evidence the review concludes that Grape Seed Extract (GSE) is an efficient enamel re-mineralizing agent. However, its capacity to re-mineralize enamel is inferior in comparison to other commercially available re-mineralizing agents.