Does enamel microabrasion help to remove fluorosis stains?

Hi denticonomist!

Stains of the enamel surfaces can definitely be treated by microabrasion but this would not be my first line of treatment for a couple of reasons:

1) It is an irreversible procedure. In microabrasion, a very strong acid is applied to the enamel surface and scrubbed in to lift off the surface enamel that contains the defect. Even though this enamel removal is microscopic, your tooth will never be quite the same as an intact virgin tooth.

2) Microabrasion is quite efficient at treating shallow defects (your dentist can assess this for you) but for deeper or stained defects (brown/yellow) it is unpredictable. Aggressive microabrasion produces a depression in the tooth surface that must be covered usually with some plastic filling material (composite) to make it smooth again. This composite layer may discolour or stain and need replacement over the years.

Besides these reasons, you may not even have fluorosis in the first place! Some other causes of enamel opacities/discolouration may not be as effectively treated by using microabrasion alone.

Personally, I would usually start with bleaching as this is truly non invasive. Sometimes just bleaching may be enough. Other options after bleaching include resin infiltration of the defect (using a system called ICON) and then only microabrasion as a last resort.

Hope this helps you in your discussion with your dentist.

Hi there and thank you for your question.

As the link you have provided suggests, microabrasion definitely does have a place in the management of tooth discolouration. We sometimes use it in isolation and at other times in conjunction with other means of correcting tooth colour.

Do bear in mind though that not every case will respond well to microabrasion and some discolouration may be too deep seated to be corrected by microabrasion alone. A prior clinical assessment to determine suitability is of course necessary.

There is however no downside to trying as microabrasion is a very conservative approach to correcting discolouration!

Hope this helps!