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Susceptibility to carieslike lesions after dental bleaching with different techniques
Elcijane Almeida Alves1, Fátima Karoline Araújo Alves, Elisângela de Jesus Campos
1School of Dentistry, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.
Objective:
To assess the influence of dental bleaching on the susceptibility of developing carieslike lesions.
Method And Materials:
Enamel slabs obtained from recently extracted human third molars were submitted to different bleaching techniques: at-home, with 10% and 16% carbamide peroxide (G1 and G2, respectively; Whiteness Perfect); and in-office, with 37% carbamide peroxide (G3; Whiteness Super) and 35% hydrogen peroxide (G4; Whiteness HP), activated by light-emitting diode and laser. The control groups G5 and G6 were not bleached. Afterward, all specimens, with the exception of G6, were exposed to a highly cariogenic challenge by means of pH cycling. G6 served as the control for the artificial caries development methodology. Assessment of the enamel carieslike lesions was made visually by 3 independent examiners, who attributed scores representing the severity of white spot lesions (0 to 3). Statistical analysis was performed with the Kruskal-Wallis (P .001) and multiple paired comparison tests.
Results:
Interrater reliability was expressed in a range of 0.70 to 0.82 kappa values. The median scores per group were as follows: G1 and G2 = 1; G3, G4, and G5 = 2; and G6 = 0.
Conclusion:
Home bleaching reduced the susceptibility to dental caries, while in-office bleaching did not influence the development of caries lesions.
