title: Morphological and microleakage studies of the cavities prepared by Er:YAG laser irradiation in primary teeth.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purposes of this study were to investigate cavity surfaces morphologically, and compare microleakage at cavities prepared by Er:YAG laser after composite resin restoration versus conventional mechanical treatment in human primary teeth in vitro.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  There have been few reports on microleakage at cavities prepared by Er:YAG laser irradiation.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 30 cavities (class V) in human primary teeth were used. Half of the cavities were prepared by an Er:YAG laser system at 300 mJ pulse energy and 4 Hz, and the other half were prepared with a high-speed diamond bur. Five cavities from each group were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and histopathological examination. Remaining cavities were filled with a composite resin without an acid-etching technique and then subjected to microleakage test in 0.6% rhodamine B solution under thermocycling.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Microleakage (score: 2.45 +/- 1.07) at cavities prepared by laser was significantly less than that by bur (score: 1.30 +/- 0.95; p < 0.05). SEM observation showed that, compared with the relatively flat appearance of cavities prepared by bur, cavity margins prepared by laser were irregular but there was almost no smear layer at the cavity walls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It can be concluded that cavity surfaces prepared by Er:YAG laser are irregular, but microleakage at cavities prepared by the laser after filling with composite resin is better than that by mechanical bur using the dye penetration method.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Showa University School of Dentistry, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Eduardo Kazuo
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Kohara
authors.forename: Mozammal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hossain
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Koukichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Mitsuko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Ryuji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sasa
mesh_terms: D003737:Dental Cavity Preparation; D006801:Humans; D007834:Lasers; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning