Treatment of Carious White Spot Lesions with MI Paste Plus, with or without One-Time Microabrasion: A Split-Mouth, Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of microabrasion with MI Paste Plus™ (GC America) provided a significant benefit in reducing carious White Spot Lesion (WSL) surface area compared to using MI Paste Plus alone.

This prospective, randomized, split-mouth clinical trial involved 13 patients recruited from Texas A&M School of Dentistry, Department of Orthodontics. Patients completed fixed orthodontic treatment at least six months prior to the study and had at least one carious white spot lesion on both the right and left maxillary anterior dentition. Teeth were randomized into a treatment group (n=27) and a control group (n=28). The treatment group, isolated from the control group via rubber dam, underwent one session of microabrasion using Opalustre™ (Ultradent Products, Inc., South Jordan, Utah) applied for 60 seconds, rinsed, and repeated for a maximum of eight minutes. Both groups used MI Paste Plus applied twice daily for five minutes for six weeks. Surface areas of the WSLs were quantified using standardized photography and software analysis.

WSL size as a percentage of labial tooth surface area decreased significantly for both the treatment and control groups, decreasing by 1.79% in the control group and 9.77% in the treatment group. WSL size decreased significantly compared to initial lesion size for both treatment and control groups. Compared to initial lesion size, WSLs in the control group decreased by 10.85%, and lesions in the treatment group decreased by 80.31%. Lesions treated with microabrasion and MI Paste Plus decreased significantly more compared to labial tooth surface and initial lesion size than lesions treated with MI Paste Plus alone.

Microabrasion treated in one session and in conjunction with MI Paste Plus is a more effective option in the treatment of carious white spot lesions in post-orthodontic patients.