Background: Resin infiltration and bleaching have been used as minimally invasive methods for the treatment of white spot lesions (WSLs) following orthodontic treatment.
Objective: To compare the color uniformity of the tooth with WSL treated with either resin infiltration or bleaching.
Material and Methods: WSLs were created in the right middle buccal half of the enamel surface of 40 sound extracted human premolars. The teeth were randomly assigned to 2 groups (n = 20) treated with: (I) resin infiltration, (II) chemically activated office-bleaching. Color parameter of the lesion and the adjacent enamel were measured by spectrophotometer at 3 time points: baseline (T0), after WSL formation (T1), after treatment (T2) and color difference ΔE* was calculated. Each tooth was visually scored for color homogeneity.
Results: ΔE* was significantly smaller after treatment in group I compared to group II [mean difference = 5.03 ± 1.11, P <0.0001]. Group II showed a statistically significant difference after treatment compared to baseline (P < 0.0001), whereas group I did not (P = 1.00). The visual score showed that the tooth color in group I had two-fold chance to be uniform in color compared to group II [Odds ratio = 2.00, P < 0.01]
Conclusions: Treatment of WSLs with resin infiltration result in a more uniform tooth color was achieved compared to bleaching.