Clinical Performance and Color Stability of Infiltrated Enamel White Spots

Objectives: The aim of this study was to clinically evaluate the effectiveness of a caries infiltration technique on masking post-orthodontic white spots, and evaluate the color stability of infiltrated lesions.
Methods: 19 post-orthodontic patients with 57 maxillary anterior teeth decalcification were enrolled in this study. All teeth were treated with resin infiltration（RI） according to manufacturer’s recommendation. The teeth colorimetric parameters were assessed by spectrophotometer (Crystaleye, Olympus) before treatment, after treatment 1 week, and after 6 and 12 months. For evaluation of the color stability, L* a* b* values of the lesions were obtained to calculate Delta E.
Results: A statistically significant difference(p<0.05) was found between before treatment and after treatment 1 week, the mean Delta E was 5.78±1.34, the Delta E value was more than 3.7. The result showed that resin infiltration could effectively mask the white spots. Between after treatment 1 week and 6 months （the mean Delta E 1.07±0.33), there was no statistically significant difference(p>0.05). No statistically significant difference also between after treatment 1 week and 12 months(the mean Delta E 1.45±0.51).
Conclusions: Based on these results, it may be concluded that Resin infiltration was an effective treatment for masking white spot lesions, and the esthetic appearance show an adequate durability over 12 months.