Randomized clinical trial of 2 nonvital tooth bleaching techniques: A 1-year follow-up

Abstract

Statement of problem: Controlled clinical trials comparing the effectiveness of the walking bleaching (WB) technique and the inside-outside (I-O) technique used in a short daily regimen are lacking.

Purpose: The purpose of this randomized clinical trial was to investigate the effectiveness of WB with that of the I-O technique conducted over 4 weeks and to compare color changes after 1 year.

Material and methods: Discolored and endodontically treated anterior teeth received a cervical seal and were randomly divided into groups according to the technique. In the WB group (n=9), a mixture of sodium perborate and 20% hydrogen peroxide was applied in the pulp chambers and replaced weekly up to 4 weeks. For the I-O group (n=8), participants applied 10% carbamide peroxide in the pulp chambers and wore custom-fitted trays for 1 hour per day over 4 weeks. CIELab parameters were obtained using a spectrophotometer at baseline, during bleaching (1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks) and after 1 year. Changes in color (ΔE), lightness (ΔL*), green-red axis (Δa*), blue-yellow axis (Δb*), and absolute color parameters (L*, b*, and a*) for each evaluation time were calculated and analyzed by repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc Bonferroni test (α=.05).

Results: No significant differences between WB and I-O techniques were observed for ΔE, ΔL*, Δa*, Δb*, L*, a*, or b* values (P>.05); however, significant differences were observed among the evaluation times (P<.05). Color changes observed after 2 weeks were stable after 1 year; ΔL* and Δa* values after 1 year were not significantly different from the 1-week evaluation, and significant changes in Δb* after 3 weeks were maintained at the 1-year follow-up. The same trend was observed for the absolute CIELab color parameters.

Conclusions: Both WB and I-O regimens were similarly effective as shown by significant ΔE after 2 weeks and no color regression after 1 year.