Prevalence of carious white spots after orthodontic treatment with multibonded appliances

Abstract

The present study was performed to examine the prevalence, localization and distribution of carious white spots on vestibular tooth surfaces after orthodontic treatment with multibonded appliances. Two test groups (A and B) were established, each comprising 60 consecutively treated adolescents from two different orthodontic practices, and a reference group of 60 persons, representing pupils from three local school classes who had not received orthodontic treatment. No differences in distribution of gender were observed between the groups. The patients in groups A and B were examined 1.8 and 1.0 years after removal of bonded appliances, respectively. Prior to treatment, patients in groups A and B were encouraged and instructed in the practice of oral hygiene and given a prescription of sodium fluoride for daily rinsing. The fluoride programme was monitored more closely and encouragement was given more frequently in group A than in group B. Carious white spots were scored on a scale from 1 to 3 according to opacity and extension on vestibular enamel surface areas outside the area covered by bracket and bonding material during treatment. The results demonstrated significantly higher scores both for opacity and extension of the lesions in group B than in the reference group (P < 0.01). No significant differences were observed between group A and the reference group and between groups A and B. The majority of the lesions were scored in gingival areas, and especially affected teeth were maxillary lateral incisors and mandibular canines and premolars.