THE EFFECT OF JATROPHA CURCAS LATEX ON DENTIN MICROHARDNESS AND SOLUBILITY Stephani Dwiyanti Indrasari, Pralita Kusumawardhini, Theodora

Elien. Faculty of Dentistry, University of Indonesia, Indonesia. Introduction: Dentists in rural areas lack access to standardized endodontic material such as dentin chelating agents (EDTA, 10% citric acid, etc.). Traditional medicine have great chances to overcome these problems. In Indonesia, one of the plants commonly used to treat pulpoperiapical disease is Jatropha curcas, or what the locals call jarak pagar. Objectives: To find out dentin microhardness and solubility after exposure to Jatropha curcas latex for 24 hours. Material and Methods: Six caries-free premolar are cut transversally to get six specimens of 2 mm thickness. They are divided into 3 groups which are treated with different solution for 24 hours. The first group is not exposed to any solution, the second one is exposed to aquadest, and the last group is exposed to 100% Jathropha curcas latex. There are 2 specimens in each group, one of which is next treated with 50% Phosphoric acid for 60 seconds after the exposure to solution mentioned above. Next, all specimens undergo Vickers Hardness Test, SEM, and EDX to know the alterations of dentin microhardness, surface texture, and element count. Results: The specimens exposed to 100% concentration of Jatropha curcas latex shows 54.5 + 2.45 VHN in microhardness test, while those without any treatnebt shows 67.2 + 2.02 VHN. In EDX test, Jatropha curcas specimen shows a decrease in Ca and Phosphate count, and an increase in Nitrogen count. In SEM test, the surface of the specimens treated with Jatropha curcas latex shows more dentinal tubuli compared to the one that is not treated with anything. Conclusions: Jatropha curcas latex has the potential to decrease dentin microhardness and increase dentin solubility, making them a possible alternative for chelating agents in the future.

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