This study was designed to determine what effects different warm air-drying conditions have on the intra-pulpal temperature (IPT), with or without chamber preparation and with or without an acid-etching treatment of the enamel. Four human maxillary centrals and four cuspids had lingual access openings prepared to accommodate a thermal sensor probe. Half of the specimens received a labial chamber preparation and half were acid-etched. All specimens were stored in water at 37 degrees C prior to testing. Labial aspects were positioned at 2 cm and 6 cm from the nozzle of a 500W hair dryer and IPTs were recorded after 15, 30, 45, and 60-second exposures. Exposure times for the acid-etched samples were modified to 10 seconds at 2 cm and 15 seconds at 6 cm. Results showed that for unetched teeth, increases in the IPT were greater at the 2 cm/15-second exposure (a 10.4-12.0 degrees C increase) than at the 6 cm/15-second exposure (a 3.9-6.6 degrees C increase). Even greater temperature changes were seen as the exposure times were increased to 30, 45, and 60 seconds. When the teeth were acid-etched, IPT rises of 5.6-10.1 degrees C and 5.8-8.7 degrees C were measured at 2 cm/10 seconds and at 6 cm/15 seconds, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)