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Photodynamic therapy for endodontic disinfection.
Soukos NS,
Chen PS,
Morris JT,
Ruggiero K,
Abernethy AD,
Som S,
Foschi F,
Doucette S,
Bammann LL,
Fontana CR,
Doukas AG,
Stashenko PP.
Applied Molecular Photomedicine Laboratory, The Forsyth Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115-3799, USA. nsoukos@forsyth.org
The aims of this study were to investigate the effects of photodynamic therapy (PDT) on endodontic pathogens in planktonic phase as well as on Enterococcus faecalis biofilms in experimentally infected root canals of extracted teeth. Strains of microorganisms were sensitized with methylene blue (25 microg/ml) for 5 minutes followed by exposure to red light of 665 nm with an energy fluence of 30 J/cm2. Methylene blue fully eliminated all bacterial species with the exception of E. faecalis (53% killing). The same concentration of methylene blue in combination with red light (222 J/cm2) was able to eliminate 97% of E. faecalis biofilm bacteria in root canals using an optical fiber with multiple cylindrical diffusers that uniformly distributed light at 360 degrees. We conclude that PDT may be developed as an adjunctive procedure to kill residual bacteria in the root canal system after standard endodontic treatment.
PMID: 16982278 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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Cited by 1 PubMed Central article
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Photodynamic treatment of endodontic polymicrobial infection in vitro.
Fimple JL, Fontana CR, Foschi F, Ruggiero K, Song X, Pagonis TC, Tanner AC, Kent R, Doukas AG, Stashenko PP, et al.
J Endod. 2008 Jun; 34(6):728-34. Epub 2008 Apr 25.
[J Endod. 2008]