Current treatment modalities of orthodontically induced white spot lesions and their outcome – a literature review

INTRODUCTION: White spot lesion is a demineralization of the enamel that appears as a white spot on the surfaces of the tooth. The cause of this spot is determined by the activity of the bacterial plaque and it represents the initial stage of a carious lesion. This lesion is a common side effect for patients with fixed orthodontic appliances mainly because of the brackets’ position that favors the accumulation of plaque that ultimately leads to the formation of the white spot. METHODS: We conducted a search on a single database, PubMed. “Orthodontic”, “white spot lesions”, “enamel demineralization treatment” and “remineralization” were the search terms used. We found 324 articles, but we took in consideration only the ones from the last 10 years, which resulted in 223 articles. RESULTS: The first step after research was article selection: first by scrutinizing the title and secondly by reviewing the abstracts or full texts. The exclusion criteria were: meta-analysis, reviews, original articles regarding prevention of white spot lesions and their prevalence or incidence. We included the articles that seemed relevant for the treatment of white spot lesions, made either on extracted teeth either on orthodontic patients. We found 75 articles to be eligible for this research and we eliminated 5 because of the lack of an abstract or full text and a further 22 were rejected because they did not fit the aforementioned criteria. CONCLUSION: Although some traditional methods for the treatment of white spot lesions seem to have undesirable results, nowadays with new technologies and thorough investigations in nanotechnology, the eradication of the lesion appears to be short term.