Dental Treatment of White Spots and a Description of the Technique and Digital Quantification of the Loss of Enamel Volume

Abstract

The prevalence of white spots on teeth has increased in recent years. Regardless of their etiology, these lesions are characterized by a reduction in the enamel’s mineral phase, which is replaced by organic fluids. This causes an alteration of its chemical composition that affects its optical characteristics. Subsurface demineralization increases the pore volume of enamel, which in turn changes its optical refraction and results in the opaque color of white spot lesions. Here, we examined a non-invasive clinical technique used for eliminating these white spot lesions from enamel via two HCl-based products at different concentrations (6.6% and 15%). We used a digital method for evaluating the volumetric changes produced in dental enamel by the application of both products, one of which involved chemical erosion and the other, abrasive erosion. The mean volume of the enamel eliminated was −0.042 mm in 15% HCl, and −0.12 mm in 6.6% HCl. Thus, both 15% HCl and 6.6% HCl are capable of eroding the surface of the tooth enamel without reaching dentin. Moreover, 6.6% HCl produced a greater erosion of the dental enamel and left the surface a texture typical of an abrasive chemical-erosive product. The 15% HCl, however, produced an etching pattern typical of an erosive chemical with open enamel prisms prepared for subsequent adhesive procedures and restorers.