ABSTRACT

The aim of this in vivo study was to evaluate the efficacy of low-viscosity light-cured resin infiltration on postorthodontic white spot lesions (WSLs) on incipient and advanced lesions using quantitative light-induced fluorescence (QLF).

The study subjects were patients with clinically diagnosed postorthodontic WSLs (n=57). QLF images of the lesions were obtained using a QLF device (Inspektor-Pro, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) before any treatment. Images were processed using the built-in software (QLF patient v2.0.0.48), which produced fluorescence loss (ΔF1), lesion area (Area1), and impact (ΔF1 x Area1, ΔQ1) values. Lesions were categorized as incipient (−5<ΔF1<−12, n=14) or advanced (−12<ΔF1<−25, n=43). They were then infiltrated with low-viscosity resin (Icon-DMG, Hamburg, Germany) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. QLF imaging was repeated (ΔF2, Area2, and ΔQ2) from the same aspects assured by the relative software. Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Wilcoxon, and Mann-Whitney tests were used for data evaluation.

ΔF1 (−8.40±0.73) and Area1 (3.44±5.19) decreased to −6.58±0.88 and 0.18±0.33 for incipient lesions (p<0.001 and p=0.002, respectively). ΔF1 (−13.20±5.32) and Area1 (4.71±5.56) decreased to −7.51±2.7 and 0.29±1.86 for advanced lesions (p<0.001). When ΔF, lesion area, and ΔQ changes between the groups were compared, the decrease in ΔF was greater for advanced lesions (p<0.001), whereas the decrease in the lesion area and ΔQ was similar (p=0.690, p=0.291).

Infiltration treatment provides improvement of WSLs in terms of fluorescence loss, lesion area, and impact for both incipient and advanced lesions, with the latter group presenting higher fluorescence loss reduction.