Nd: YAG laser irradiation in root canal disinfection

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of Nd:YAG laser irradiation in disinfecting the root canal system. Seventy-five teeth were uniformly instrumented and sterilized, and their root canals were infected for 60 min with an overnight culture of Enterococcus faecalis in Tryptic Soy Broth. The teeth were divided into 6 groups: 1--non-infected controls; 2--infected controls; 3--infected, laser treated; 4--infected, laser dummy (dye only); 5--infected, laser dummy (dye and air-water spray); 6--infected, NaOCl-treated (reference group). After treatment, the root canals were dried and dentinal shavings removed for a post-treatment culture. Quantitative analysis of bacteria surviving the various treatments were performed and the bacterial counts for each group were compared. SEM analysis of teeth split longitudinally was used to illustrate the effect of treatment on the smear layer and on surface bacteria. Nd:YAG laser irradiation (group 3) significantly reduced the number of bacteria while NaOCl irrigation (group 6) effectively disinfected the canals.

Laser-based Disinfection of the Root Canal System: An Update

“…25 Gutknecht et al 26 showed that the bactericidal effect of the holmiumdoped (Ho):YAG laser on the canals in vitro is very efficient. It has been also shown that laser irradiation may result in a significant decrease of bacteria for all dentin thicknesses.…”

Anti-microbial Photo Dynamic Therapy (aPDT) in Endodontics: A Literature Review

“…Because resistance to ROS and singlet oxygen is extremely rare, hence it initiates the destruction of bacteria within the root canal system [7,9,10] .…”

“…High power lasers due to their heat based destruction of microbes aided in developing the methods that are useful in root canals disinfection [5,6,7,8]. There are concerns of some undesirable effects on surface of radicular dentin that include carbonization and cratering with some lasers types e.g.…”

Influência do EDTA, laser de ND:YAG e da combinação de ambos sobre a dentina radicular e na obturação de canais laterais

“…34,48,51,73 . A redução da quantidade de bactérias depende da energia de radiação e da espécie da bactéria presente 34 .…”