The Effect of Fluoride Varnish, Casein Phosphopeptide-Amorphous Calcium Phosphate, and Resin Infiltration in the Treatment of White Spot Lesions After Orthodontic Therapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Trial design The study will be conducted as a prospective clinical controlled trial with an experimental design, consisting of four parallel groups. Individuals who experienced the development of demineralized white spot lesions after undergoing fixed appliance therapy will be invited to participate in the study and will be assigned to one of the following groups: control group, Fluoride Varnish (FV) group, Casein Phosphopeptide-Amorphous Calcium Phosphate (CPP-ACP) group, or Resin Infiltration (RI) group.

Participants Patients will be recruited by navigating the electronic record system of Riyadh Elm University from 2023 files backward up to 2022, identifying patients who completed orthodontic treatment reaching up to the required sample size. Those patients will be contacted by phone call from the dental clinic of Riyadh Elm University official number, inviting them to participate in the current study. Patients will be given an appointment to visit the dental clinic at specific time. Before enrollment, every patient or parent/legal guardian of a patient younger than 18 years of age will receive an informational letter and verbal communication about the objectives and protocol of the study. All enrolled patients and/or their parents or legal guardians will be asked to provide a written informed consent following their initial approval. All patients who got treatment in Riyadh Elm University signed consents to share their information for research purposes will be enrolled in the study.

Calibration exercise A total of 22 patients with WSLs attending dental clinics of REU will be selected and two examiners will perform dental examinations using a dental mirror and a ball-ended probe on wet and dry debris-free teeth to code the WSL against the ICDAS system. Whenever in doubt regarding the coding of the WSLs, the third expert examiner decision will be considered final. The level of agreement with regard to the ICDAS codes between the two examiners will be assessed using reliability analysis and the agreement level of above 80% will be considered.

Two examiners will perform dental examinations using a dental mirror and a ball-ended probe on wet and dry debris-free teeth. Each WSL will be identified by visual inspection of mesiobuccal, buccal, or distobuccal tooth surfaces and recorded. An ICDAS code will be assigned to each WSL. A digital photograph will be taken by keeping 45 cm distance between subject and camera. The digital image of WS can be captured with a digital camera (Canon EOS 2000D (NIS) DSLR Camera 18 - 55 mm NIS Lens) held almost perpendicular to the buccal surface. Light is supplied by a flash mounted around lens. The camera system setup was adjusted as follows; the quality of image is Fine, ISO is 200, and white balance is speed light mode. Moreover, dental status of the participants also recorded.

Buccal WSLs will be defined as those that extend from the center of the buccal to either the mesial surface or the distal surface. WSLs that will be coded 3 (denoted by localized enamel breakdown caused by caries without the presence of dentin and underlying shadow), or higher (denoted by the presence of underlying dark shadow caused by dentin, whether enamel-depleting or not, to a large distinct cavity containing visible dentin), in accordance with ICDAS reference, are excluded from further examination and will be appropriately treated.