title: Measurement of pulpal blood flow in humans using laser Doppler flowmetry: a technique allowing stability and repeatability of pulpal blood flow measurement during surgical manipulations.
abstract: This study was undertaken to validate the repeatability of pulpal blood flow in human teeth with the laser Doppler flowmetry technique using a repeatable method of attachment of the laser Doppler probe. The variation in laser Doppler flowmetry measurements was evaluated over time periods that ranged from hours to days. In a prospective study, the pulpal blood flow was recorded from a maxillary central incisor (randomly selected) at a site directly gingival to the orthodontic bracket of three subjects. Measurements were made eight times over a 2-week period and every 30 minutes over 4 hours for eight recordings. The results indicated that there was only a slight difference between the temporal variability of the laser Doppler measurements over the course of 4 hours (intraday variability) or 2 weeks (interday variability). Furthermore, it appeared that subjects varied in their mean value recordings and may have varied widely in their respective signal-to-noise ratios.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, Philadelphia 19104, USA.
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Vanarsdall
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003782:Dental Pulp / Q000098:blood supply*; D006801:Humans; D007180:Incisor; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry / Q000295:instrumentation; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D015203:Reproducibility of Results