The effect of sealing white spot lesions on lesion progression in vitro.

The resistance of white spot lesions to acid demineralization when etched with phosphoric acid and sealed with a resin material was studied. Artificially created white spot lesions were sealed and re-exposed to an artificial caries medium along with unprotected white spot lesions. Examination with polarized light microscopy revealed continued progression of the unprotected white spot lesions, whereas no lesion progression was evident under the resin sealant. New lesions formed on unprotected sound enamel adjacent to the margin of the resin sealant over sound enamel tangent to the white spot lesions. The sealed sound enamel adjacent to the white spot lesions did not undergo demineralization indicating protection by the resin tags. Sealing white spot lesions following etching with a 37% phosphoric acid may be beneficial in inhibiting lesion progression.