effect of fluoride varnish on improvement of surface decalcifications after fixed orthodontic treatment

statement of the problem : enamel white spot lesions are one of the problems associated with fixed orthodontic treatment that compromise esthetics. porpuse the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of fluoride varnish on the improvement of white spot lesions after fixed orthodontic treatment. materials and methods in this randomized clinical trial, 20 patients with at least two white spot lesions after fixed orthodontic treatment were selected and randomly divided into two groups. in the test group patients, voco fluoride varnish was applied to the buccal surface of all the teeth monthly for 4 months. control group patients only received dental prophylaxis monthly for 4 months. at baseline, three photographs were taken from the frontal, right and left views of occlusion and repeated after 4 months. pre- and post-treatment photos were superimposed using photoshop 6.0 software and the area of demineralized white spot lesions was measured pre- and post-treatment. the measurements were compared with repeated measures anova. results : thirty-three teeth in the test group and 32 teeth in the control group were evaluated. oral hygiene was good in both groups. the mean size of lesions in the test group was 8.3%±3.07 before treatment, decreasing to 5.9%±2.9 after treatment (p=0.009). the mean size of lesions in the control group was 7.7%±4.2 before treatment, decreasing to 5.9%±3.6 after treatment (p=0.001). no statistically significant diffrences were detected between the two groups (p=0.307). conclusion according to the results, use of fluoride varnish has no superiority over natural remineralization by saliva in decreasing white spot lesions in patients with good oral hygiene.