Color change of white spot lesions after resin infiltration

This study evaluates color change of the enamel lesion before and after resin infiltration and after thermocycling (TC) in order to assess clinical usefulness of resin infiltrant in restoring esthetics of incipient enamel caries lesions. Twenty‐five healthy premolars were prepared and crown portions were vertically cut. Specimens were emerged in acryl blocks with relatively flat proximal surface facing outside. Specimens were put in decalcification solution (50 mM acetic acid solution, 3 mM CaCl 2 ·H 2 O, 3 mM KH 2 PO 4 , 6 µM methylhydroxydiphosphonate, pH 4.95, 37°C), and were kept for 160 h, in order to make white spot lesions on the exposed enamel. Degree of decalcification was observed with microscope and nine specimens were excluded because of inadequate decalcification ( n  = 41). L * , a * , and b * were measured with colorimeter at the baseline ( T 1 ), after production of white spot lesions ( T 2 ), after infiltration of resin infiltrants (ICON ® , DMG, Hamburg, Germany) ( T 3 ), after 3000 ( T 4 ), 6000 ( T 5 ), and 10,000 cycles ( T 6 ) of TC. L * was highest at T 2 , but significantly decreased until T 6 which was the closest value to T 1 ( P < 0.05). a * was highest at T 2 and decreased gradually until T 6 , whereas b * was lowest at T 2 and was highest at T 3 and decreased gradually until T 6 . Δ E ab  *less than 3.7 showed between T 1 and T 4 , between T 1 and T 5 , and between T 1 and T 6 , which suggested that it was hard to differentiate one from the other clinically. Resin infiltrated lesions showed recovery of CIE value close to that of healthy enamel over time. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 39, 506–510, 2014