Effectiveness of a fluoride-releasing orthodontic primer in reducing demineralization around brackets – a systematic review

ABSTRACT Purpose This review aims to evaluate the available evidence to assess and understand the effectiveness of fluoride-releasing primers in reducing white spot lesions (WSLs) around orthodontic brackets. Materials and Methods The protocol for the review was registered in the PROSPERO database (www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero, protocol number – CRD42021230588). A systematic search of the scientific databases (PubMed, Cochrane CENTRAL, Google Scholar, and LILACS) was conducted to identify relevant studies. After screening titles and abstracts 120 articles were eliminated and the full text was sought for the four studies. Three articles were included in the qualitative analysis. Results All studies included in the qualitative analysis showed a high risk of bias. On visual examination, no studies identified a significant difference in the incidence of WSLs among the intervention and control groups. On assessing WSLs using laser fluorescence, only one study identified a significant difference in the incidence of WSLs between the groups. Conclusion With the limited available evidence, it can be concluded that there is a difference in the incidence of WSLs when fluoride-releasing primers are used to bond orthodontic brackets, although this decrease in incidence is not significant statistically. Further research is required to fully evaluate the effectiveness of using fluoride-releasing primers in orthodontics.