Purpose: This study aimed at investigating the masking effect and depth of penetration of two resin infiltrants (ICON ® and unfilled adhesive resin) on artificial white spot lesions after different pretreatment methods (15% hydrochloric acid, 37% phosphoric acid and air abrasion through micro etcher)
Materials and methods: Artificial white spot lesions were produced in enamel slabs from 60 freshly extracted permanent human anterior teeth (extracted from diabetic patients). The samples were divided into two main groups: resin infiltrant; ICON ® (B1) and adhesive resin bond; ONE-STEP® Universal Dental Adhesive (B2). Each group was subdivided into three subgroups according to the pretreatment used; (HCl 15%) was applied in (A1), (H3PO4 37%) was applied in (A2) and aluminum oxide particles (50/90 µm), through micro etcher was applied in (A3). The assessment of colour was performed by a spectrophotometer in three distinct stages: baseline, after the production of artificial caries and after infiltration treatment expressed in L*, a* and b* values. To analyze measurement results, the chromatism value, ΔE was used to quantify the overall differences of the colors.
Results: All the test groups showed no statistically signifiant differences between each other where the highest value was recorded with the adhesive bond after micro-etching 2.250 ± 0.192 and the lowest value was recorded with the adhesive bond after HCl pre-treatment 1.710 ± 0.244 (Statistical significance is achieved when the P-value ≤ 0.05).
Conclusion: Both tested infiltrants reacted similarly and the three tested pretreatment methods were equally effective.