ICON - White Spot Removal

There are multiple reasons for why you can develop white spots on your teeth. Here are some examples of conditions that can lead to white spots developing on your teeth:

• Decalcification of the tooth enamel: This is the term used for when your tooth enamel loses mineral from the tooth surface. This can happen through erosion from plaque acids eating away at your tooth enamel but can also result from wear caused by fixed braces.
• Molar Incisal Hypoplasia: This is a condition that can develop in children under the age of 10 years old. It is thought to be caused by the lack of mineralisation of enamel during the maturation phase of the teeth.
• Physical trauma: You may have suffered an injury to your baby or adult teeth through an accident at an early age. There are many cases where a child experiences trauma to their mouth and then they go on to develop white spots on their teeth in adulthood.
• Severe illness or disease: Suffering from a severe illness or fighting off disease can often mean your teeth can develop white spots.
• Excess fluoride: Fluorosis occurs when a child consumes too much fluoride. This can affect the adult teeth as they are developing, and they can erupt through with white spots.

What about tooth whitening treatment? Will this help?

For some patients, white spots on their teeth can be confused for staining. While tooth staining is an issue where the surface of the tooth becomes stained or discoloured, white spots are more deeply ingrained than this.

Staining can develop from consuming food and drink that can leave residue on your teeth that act to discolour the surface. Drinks such as red wine, coffee, tea, and food containing strong spices and colourings are all known to cause staining.

Tooth whitening treatments can help to remove surface stain build-up from common staining food and drink consumption leaving your teeth much whiter and brighter in colour. However, these treatments have little effect on dental white spots.

No matter how much teeth whitening treatment you undertake, the white spots will always remain a lighter colour than the rest of your tooth surface.

What is the best treatment for white spots?

Many people will now be wondering if you can successfully treat white spots. The answer to this question is yes, you can remedy your dental white spots through a special process that your dentist can perform for you.

The treatment involves using a micro-fine resin application that works by penetrating the tiny pores present in your tooth. Your dentist will apply a special gel to the surface of your tooth to open up these pores. This enables the resin solution to more deeply penetrate your tooth surface.

The resin applied will be perfectly matched to your tooth colour so will render your white spots to become the same colour as your natural tooth. The resin will be light-cured to set and harden and seal up the open pores.

This resin treatment also adds an extra layer of protection again enamel wear from plaque acids which can cause decay, so you will be getting an added benefit from having this treatment!