ICON Resin Infiltration

Orange County Pediatric Dentistry provides ICON resin infiltration treatment in Monroe, NY. Call 845-928-2206 to learn more and schedule your appointment.

White spots are common on kids’ teeth, but until recently, there hasn’t been a good solution for them. Teeth whitening doesn’t help, so patients who wanted to improve the appearance of their teeth had to choose between a crown or drilling to remove the white spots and filling them in with composite material. ICON resin infiltration has been a game-changer when it comes to white spots, allowing us to restore decalcified areas without drilling or damage to the healthy tooth surface.

White spots are common after a child has braces, but these spots can also be natural defects in the enamel, dental trauma, fluorosis, or decay. Also known as enamel bruising, white spot lesions, or hypo spots, these white spots are more porous than the rest of the tooth. The ICON resin infiltration treatment fills in these porous areas, which not only improves their appearance, but also protects the tooth from decay.

The ICON treatment takes only a single visit to our office. It’s minimally invasive, and there’s no drilling or local anesthetic injections involved, so most kids tolerate the procedure well. From start to finish, you can expect your child’s appointment to last about an hour, depending on how many teeth are being treated.

The process includes:

• Cleaning plaque and tartar from the tooth (or teeth) being treated and separating the tooth from neighboring teeth with a wedge.
• Using an etching solution to remove the outermost layer of tooth enamel.
• Drying out the white spot lesions and pores with a drying agent.
• Applying the ICON resin infiltration solution to fill in the pores and improve the tooth’s appearance.
• Removing excess resin, curing the tooth, and polishing.

Although some white spots may only fade instead of disappearing completely, most patients have success with this treatment. ICON resin infiltration will last for years before needing a touch-up.

ICON treatment is not permanent, so it will need to be touched up occasionally. Once your child reaches adulthood, they can decide if they’d like to continue with periodic treatments or get porcelain veneers for a more permanent solution.

ICON treatment is known to last an average of two years, but anecdotally, many dentists have observed that their patients go five years or longer without having their white spots reappear.

ICON works by etching the outermost layer of tooth enamel, then using a solution to penetrate and fill in the porous area that creates the white spot.

No, in fact, the opposite is true—ICON is good for your child’s teeth! It leaves more tooth structure intact than the older method of drilling-and-filling. Because ICON was originally developed to stop tooth decay in its earliest stages, it also has the added benefit of guarding against cavities where it is applied.

Call 845-928-2206 to schedule your appointment.