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Add a New Revenue Stream While Easily and Effectively Treating White Spots

Posted By: GroupDentistryNow May 3, 2022

Clinician’s Corner – Educational Content for Clinical Directors,
Chief Dental Officers, Clinical Boards and the Entire Clinical Team.
Sponsored by DMG America

The Icon caries infiltrant by DMG is the only product of its kind; it’s a revolutionary resin infiltrant that provides a micro-invasive way to fill caries lesions and stop them from progressing, without the need for drilling or anesthesia.

Practice Bottom Line Benefits

Creating new practice revenue streams is essential to every DSO or dental group’s bottom line. Icon does just that. This breakthrough caries infiltrant has a proven track record of generating additional revenue streams. Products and innovations like this, which streamline dental professionals’ daily routines, can be particularly beneficial to dental support organizations as many dental groups place an emphasis on blending outstanding clinical outcomes with practice productivity.

“One thing that’s great about Icon is that you’re creating a brand-new revenue stream, not replacing another treatment you currently offer. It’s a new tool in your toolbox that requires minimal prep, only one patient visit, and it doesn’t take up hours of chair time. It’s a win-win for practices and patients.” – George Wolfe, President, DMG America

Some patients search the internet for help with their white spots which take away from an attractive smile – something most people in the United States value especially after years of costly orthodontic treatment. A recent meta-analysis of 14 studies evaluated for white spot lesions (WSLs) indicated the incidence rate of new carious lesions that developed during orthodontic treatment was 45.8%, with a prevalence rate of 68.4% in patients under orthodontic treatment.[1]

The great news is that there is a plethora of user-friendly marketing materials available online for clinicians to access with just one click. Marketed properly, Icon can help DSOs attract and impress patients who can ultimately end up staying with the practice for the remainder of their dental care. The Icon DDS Locator also makes it easy for patients to find participating practices.

Clinical Benefits and Patient Retention

Patients value the product’s ability to painlessly treat incipient caries without drilling or anesthesia, bringing the affected surfaces back to the look of healthy teeth, without sacrificing significant amounts of healthy tooth structure.

Until now, there has been no truly effective treatment option available for cariogenic white spots, like the ones that are often visible after bracket removal. Icon can be used to effectively arrest the progression of caries that have not advanced farther than the outer third of the dentin (E1-D1) Both types of problems can be resolved reliably, pain free and in one visit.

Utilizing Icon, no healthy tooth structure is lost. No drilling. No anesthesia. One patient visit.

How Resin Infiltration Works

The process is similar for both proximal and facial lesions. However, to access the contacts for proximal caries, the teeth must have adequate prior separation.  The lesion’s surface is eroded using Icon Etch, a 15% HCL, thereby opening the pore system of the lesion body. Once the pore system is dried with ethanol, Icon Infiltrant is applied. The extremely high penetration coefficient of the Icon resin enables it to penetrate the lesion pores. After light curing, the process is repeated again.

It’s a one-two punch of additive dentistry + multiple types of patient cases:

  • Post ortho white spots: Post-orthodontic decalcifications or white spot lesions are a significant aesthetic challenge. Studies show that resin infiltration (Icon DMG) proves to be most effective at masking white spot lesions [2] and more resistant to formation of new white spot lesions when compared to treatment with therapeutic fluoride solutions [3].
  • Mild to moderate fluorosis: Anterior teeth are more likely to be affected by fluorosis. Mild dental fluorosis is characterized by a diffuse whitish opaque appearance. Moderate and more severe fluorosis present a clinical aspect ranging from more extensive and opaquer whitish or brownish stained enamel to pitted enamel lesions. Resin infiltration has emerged as a viable alternative for esthetic treatment of lesions classified as mild to moderate. [4,5,6]
  • Superficial white spots: It is easy to determine if a superficial white spot will be correctable with Icon or not. Treatment can be done in just a few steps and is noninvasive.
  • Early proximal caries

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References:

  1. Sundararaj D, Venkatachalapathy S, Tandon A, Pereira A. Critical evaluation of incidence and prevalence of white spot lesions during fixed orthodontic appliance treatment: A meta-analysis. J Int Soc Prev Community Dent. 2015;5:433–9.
  2. Kim S, Shin JH, Kim EY, Lee SY, Yoo SG. The evaluation of resin infiltration for masking labial enamel white spot lesions. Caries Res 44: 171–248, Abs. 47, (2010).
  3. Rocha Gomes Torres C, Marcondes Sarmento Torres L, Silva Gomes I, Simões de Oliveira R, Bühler Borges A. Effect of caries infiltration technique and fluoride therapy on the color masking of white spot lesions. 2010, Data on file. DMG, Hamburg, Germany
  4. Auschill, T. M., Schmidt, K. E., & Arweiler, N. B. (2015). Resin Infi ltration for Aesthetic Improvement of Mild to Moderate Fluorosis: A Six-month Follow-up Case Report. Oral Health & Preventive Dentistry, 13(4), 317–322.
  5. Gugnani, N., Pandit, I. K., Gupta, M., Gugnani, S., Soni, S., & Goyal, V. (2017). Comparative evaluation of esthetic changes in nonpitted fl uorosis stains when treated with resin infi ltration, in-offi ce bleaching, and combination therapies. Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry, 29(5), 317–324.
  6. Muñoz, M. A., Arana-Gordillo, L. A., Gomes, G. M., Gomes, O. M., Bombarda, N. H. C., Reis, A., & Loguercio, A. D. (2013). Alternative esthetic management of fl uorosis and hypoplasia stains: Blending effect obtained with resin infi ltration techniques. Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry, 25(1), 32–39.

 

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