Microhardness of three different techniques for treatment of artificial white spot lesions an in vitro comparative study

Background: Clinically appearing early caries are referred to as white spot lesions (WSLs). These lesions compromise esthetics and precede cavitation; therefore they must be halted by effective materials. Aim: To evaluate and compare microhardness of artificial white spot lesions treated with icon infiltrant, single bond universal adhesive and green tea. Materials and methods: Forty extracted human premolars were selected for this study. The teeth were debrided and stored in deionized water at room temperature from the day of extraction until used. All premolars were coated with a nail varnish, leaving a 4 mm × 4 mm window on the middle of buccal surface covered by label stickers. Then all premolars were demineralized with phosphoric etching acid material with 1 minute phosphoric acid H3PO4 37% to create artificial white spot lesions on the buccal surface. 10 of the demineralized teeth were kept as control group, 10 teeth we retreated with low viscosity resin (Icon Infiltrant, DMG, Hamburg, Germany), 10 single bond universal adhesive (3M EspeTM) and 10 with green tea (Ahmed Tea London). Enamel surfaces were treated with these three materials approaching three different techniques then microhardness of specimens were measured and compared. Statistical analysis: One-way ANOVA followed by Tukey post hoc test were used to compare between more than two groups in non-related samples. Results: It showed that; there was a statistically significant difference between all the groups where (p<0.001). A statistically significant difference was found between (Icon) and each of (Control), (Adhesive) and (Green tea) groups where (p<0.001), (p=0.001) and (p=0.002) respectively. No statistically significant difference was found between (Control) and each of (Adhesive) and (Green tea) groups where (p=0.118) and (p=0.059) respectively. Conclusions: Within the limitations of this study; resin infiltration technique is a promising micro invasive approach for management of noncavitated lesions and is expected to increase the span of micro invasive dentistry.