Theobromine: Safe alternative for fluoride in dentifrice. How theobromine was discovered?

Statement of the Problem: Caffeine (1,3,7-trimethyxanthine) and theobromine (3,7-dimethyxanthine) both are members of the xanthine family. Coffee and many soft drinks contain caffeine. Theobromine is the main ingredient in cacao and chocolate is made from. Over 35 years ago, simple experiment in which the diet fed to lactating dams had caffeine added. The mineral contents of the tooth from the pups which sucked the caffeine-containing dam’s milk were decreased. The experiments were started to determine if caffeine would affect either enamel or dentin or both. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: Dams were fed with caffeine diet and their pups were sacrificed at postnatal day 22 and 1st molars were extracted and enamel surface were exposed to weak acid solution. Ca, P, and Mg of the dissolve solution from the caffeine group were more than the control. Enamel and dentin were separated. The crystallite size of the enamel of the pup’s tooth from caffeine group was smaller. By feeding a cariogenic diet, caffeine group showed the higher incidence of caries score in the separate study. We conducted an experiment to grow apatite crystals in vitro by adding various member of the xanthine group. Theobromine produced larger crystal sizes compared to caffeine. We conducted the exactly the same procedure as caffeine, but adding theobromine in the maternal diet. The dissolved minerals on this group were far less compared to control. Because the chemical which affects the enamel structure is only fluoride, theobromine might play a similar role like fluoride, but much safer because chocolate has been eaten over centuries without any adverse effects in the human health. The comparative studies of the various parameters between theobromine and fluoride were done. Recently fluoride was designated as one of the developmental neurotoxicants as more adverse effects of fluoride are revealed. Findings: The comparative studies have shown theobromine based dentifrice are superior each parameter studied. Conclusion & Significance: In the first time, non fluoride dentifrice based upon theobromine was developed and this is safe and effective compared to that of the fluoride based dentifrice.

Author(s): Tetsuo Nakamoto

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