Changes in buccal white spots during 2-year consumption of dietary sucrose or xylitol

Abstract

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to quantitate changes in buccal white-spot lesions during sucrose and xylitol consumption. Standardized color macrophotographs of white-spot lesions were taken 7 months after the beginning and at the end of the 2-year study. The quantification was based on the planimetry of these photographs. The area of white-spot lesions decreased in the xylitol group in absolute values (p < 0.01) and in percentages (p < 0.001). In the sucrose group the area of white-spot lesions increased in absolute values (p < 0.05) and in percentages (p < 0.01) during the 17-month observation period. The stereomicroscopic evaluation gave a similar result; the ordinally quantified caries scores (CIS) increased in the sucrose group and decreased in the xylitol group, and the difference between the groups was highly significant (p < 0.001). Thus the present findings showed that xylitol consumption caused remineral-ization of incipient white-spot lesions on buccal surfaces. D Enamel caries; planimetry; remineralization; stereomicroscopy; sugar