Bleaching: the initial treatment consideration for tetracycline-stained teeth.

Tray tooth bleaching involves the use of carbamide peroxide in a custom-fitted tray to bleach teeth. One of the most difficult stains to bleach is tetracycline. This paper will present several different patient situations of tetracycline-stained teeth being bleached and will discuss the benefits and limitations of bleaching tetracycline-stained teeth.

Tray bleaching status and insights.

Objective: To provide an update on tray bleaching for various tooth discoloration conditions, including a complete examination form as well as an information and consent form.

Clinical Considerations: Since the bleaching process was first documented in 1989, it has become a safe, successful, and conservative treatment for consistently whitening the color of patients' natural teeth. Though initially used on a limited basis, the process has expanded to include bleaching nicotine and tetracycline stains, single dark teeth, brown spots, reducing white spots, caries control as well as color change from aging.

Teeth Bleaching Efficacy During Clear Aligner Orthodontic Treatment.

Clear aligner treatment has become popular for many orthodontic cases that ordinarily would have required traditional orthodontic brackets and wires. One of the motivating reasons for patients to use clear aligner therapy is to improve their esthetic appearance, which typically is the same motivation for teeth bleaching, thus a combination of the two treatments may be desirable. The case report presented demonstrates bleaching concurrent with clear aligner (Invisalign®) treatment.

Effect of Curing Light Barriers and Light Types on Radiant Exposure and Composite Conversion.

Purpose: Previous research investigated the effects of curing tip barriers on light output and composite properties, but no study has measured the effect of a wide variety of barriers and curing light types on delivered radiant exposure and the resulting composite cure 2 mm below the radiated surface.

Materials And Methods: Six barrier materials and six curing light types were tested. Spectroradiometry was used to measure irradiance with and without barriers for each light type, and radiant exposure values were determined for a commercial camphorquinone-based dental composite material.

New method of measuring water permeability of adhesive resin films.

Purpose: To adapt a simple gravimetric method to measuring the permeability of adhesive resin films to liquid water, and to compare this to the water vapor permeability of the same resins.

Methods: Using commercially-available permeability cups designed for industrial permeability testing, the loss of mass of water vapor or liquid water from a stainless steel cup sealed with a resin film was measured over 1-2 days. The permeabilities of Parafilm (control), Clearfil SE Bond adhesive, Xeno IV and One-Up Bond F were compared.

The effect of chlorhexidine on dentin hybrid layers in vivo.

This in vivo study evaluated by TEM the degradation of dentin hybrid layers in deep occlusal resin composite restorations. Caries-free premolars scheduled for extraction as part of orthodontic treatment were prepared, restored and evaluated after two and six months. The adhesive used was a single-bottle etch-and-rinse product (Single Bond Plus, 3M ESPE).