Decontamination of rough titanium surfaces with diode lasers: microbiological findings on in vivo grown biofilms.
OBJECTIVE
The bactericidal efficacy of diode lasers has already been demonstrated in vitro. We investigated the reduction of aerobe bacteria - colonizing rough titanium samples in biofilms intraorally grown - by diode lasers of different wave lengths.


METHODS
Twenty-two volunteers participated in the trial. They were fitted for 10 days with custom-made intraoral plastic splints carrying titanium sleeves. A part of the sleeves was then irradiated with diode lasers in different modes. The other part remained non-irradiated and served as control. Directly after irradiation, the sleeves were swabbed and the gained bacteria were first examined microscopically and then were cultured under aerobic conditions.


RESULTS
The bacteria in the controls and in the treated samples were quantified. A comparison with the controls revealed a marked overall reduction of bacterial colonization in all irradiated sleeves. Continuous irradiation for 20 s reduced bacteria counts by 99.67% at 810 nm and 99.58% at 980 nm. Repeating the 20 s exposure five times reduced counts by 99.98% at 810 nm and by 99.39% at 980 nm. A 98.86% reduction was seen after irradiation in pulsed mode. A further analysis in respect of different isolated bacteria revealed that the streptococci group was reduced by 99.29-99.99%, while the staphylococci group was reduced to a lesser extent in the range 94.67-99.99%.


CONCLUSIONS
The results are of clinical relevance. In comparison with the mean bacterial counts of the untreated samples, all irradiation programs studied in this investigation reduced mean bacterial colonization in a biofilm on intraoral rough titanium surfaces by more than 98%. The actual extent of reduction was dependent on the bacteria species as well as on the irradiation mode.
Sennhenn-Kirchner
Sabine
S
Department of Oral Surgery and Radiology, Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany. se.ki@uni-goettingen.de
Klaue
Sören
S
Wolff
Nadine
N
Mergeryan
Hamparsum
H
Borg von Zepelin
Margarete
M
Jacobs
Hans Georg
HG
D001420:Bacteria, Aerobic / Q000528:radiation effects; D018441:Biofilms / Q000528:radiation effects*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003666:Decontamination / Q000379:methods*; D003764:Dental Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000528:radiation effects; D053685:Laser Therapy; D009055:Mouth / Q000382:microbiology*; D013165:Splints; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000528:radiation effects; D013291:Streptococcus / Q000528:radiation effects; D013499:Surface Properties; D013997:Time Factors; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*
D003764:Dental Materials; D014025:Titanium