Background: One common undesirable side effect of orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances is the development of incipient caries lesions around brackets, particularly in patients with poor oral hygiene. Different methods have been used to prevent demineralization; the recent effort to improve the resistance against the demineralization is by the application of lasers. Materials and method: Thirty human premolars extracted for orthodontic purposes were used to test the effect of two energy level of ER-YAG laser on enamel resistance to demineralization. The brackets were bonded on the teeth and all the labial surface excluding 2 mm area gingival to the brackets were painted with acid resistance varnish. Three groups were generated. The first group was the control group (A), with no treatment was performed. In group II (B)and groups III (C); teeth were irradiated by ER-YAG laser of 200, 60 mj energy respectively. All the teeth were individually subjected to acid challenge cycle for 30 days. After debonding longitudinal sections were taken and examined under stereomicroscope. The enamel demineralization evaluation was done by taking the average of three depths at the centre of the artificial lesion. Also the enamel surface was classified by an experienced investigator according to acid etch pattern. Comparisons of the average depth values of the groups were performed with ANOVA and LSD tests. The statistical significance level was set at p ≤ 0.05. Results: The results revealed that average lesion depth was significantly deeper at the control group than the laser groups, and its significantly deeper in group (B) 200 mj than in group (C) 60 mj, enamel surfaces showed deeper pits and craters than in control group. Conclusions: the decrease in artificial caries lesion depth associated with use of the two laser energy level support the ER-YAG laser as a tool to increase enamel resistance to demineralization and white spot lesion prevention. Key words: Demineralization, ER-YAG, laser.
CO2 laser (10.6 μm) is the most often used laser in the oral surgery due to its high absorption by water of the oral tissues. Several benefits of the use of CO2 laser have been reported for oral surgical procedures. This study aims to evaluate the effect of CO2 laser on soft and hard oral tissues (in vitro study). This study was done on fresh tissues from sheep’s head. CO2Surgical Laser with different operation modes was used; 0.2 mm spot size using different laser parameters on the tongue, and bone making holes, incisions and cutting. The depths and widths of holes and incisions were measured using endodontic file under magnification. The speed of incisions was calculated and the required time for cutting was measured using sport clo
... Show MoreBackground: Human teeth considered to be an important etiological host factor in relation to dental caries through its morphology and composition. Elements may incorporate in tooth structure during pre and post-eruptive period changing the resistance for caries. The aims of this study were to determine the concentration of selected major (Calcium and phosphorus) and trace elements (Ferrous iron, nickel, chromium and aluminum) in permanent teeth and enamel among a group of adolescent girls in relation to severity of dental caries Material and Methods: The study group consisted of 25 girls with an age of 13-15 years old referred by Orthodontists for extractions of upper first premolars (two sides). Tooth and enamel samples were prepared for
... Show MoreBackground: The aim of this study is to evaluate the color change ∆E of the dental enamel following treatment with 2 kinds of protector (icon infiltrant, clinpro varnish) before fixed orthodontic treatment to avoid the possible white spot lesions. Materials and Methods: Fifty four subjects treated with fixed appliances were divided into 3 groups: the 1st group was control, while the 2nd and 3rd groups were treated with icon infiltrant and clinpro varnish before bonding procedure, respectively. Color parameters (L,a,b) were recorded for the middle and gingival thirds before and after bonding procedure to get the ∆E of each group. Results: One-way ANOVA test showed a non-significant difference in ∆E between the 3 groups a
... Show MoreDental caries (tooth decay) is one of the most prevalent infectious disease and although of multifactorial origin, Streptococcus mutans is considered the principal pathogen in its development (i.e. bacterial processes damage hard tooth structure (enamel, dentine and cementum), producing dental cavities (holes in the teeth). The bactericidal properties of the Nd:YAG laser has been researched analyzing its use in caries prevention and bacterial reduction. One hundred twenty five samples were collected from carious teeth and isolated bacteria were diagnosed using microscopic examination, culture, biochemical tests, and Api 20 strep system. The results of this study showed that a noticeable decrease in the viability of Streptococcus mutans w
... Show MoreBackground: White spot lesion is the first visible sign of dental caries that is characterized by demineralized lesion underneath an intact surface. Several studies demonstrated that they could be treated using noninvasive techniques like the use of fluoride or casein phospho-peptide and amorphous calcium phosphate. Improvement in aesthetic outcomes by covering the demineralized enamel is one of the advantages of the use of resin infiltration and opal-ustre microabrasion, which are two new techniques that had been used for treatment of white spot lesion. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of resin infiltration and microabrasion in the microhardness of the artificial white spot lesions at various depths. Material and method
... Show MoreBackground: clinically significant macular edema (CSME) is the commonest cause of visual loss in patients with diabetes mellitus and laser focal photocoagulation is the golden standard for treating it. Patients and Methods: A frequency doubled Nd: YAG laser was used to treat all eyes included in this study with diabetic maculopathy. Thirty eyes of three insulin dependent and twenty six non insulin dependent diabetic Iraqi patients were included. The study involved twenty six males, three females and followed for one year. Their ages were ranging between 36- 59 years, all of them from patients attending ophthalmic out-patient department in the medical city in the period between January 2005 and June 2006. Eyes divided in to two groups (fifte
... Show MoreObjective. This study aimed to evaluate the orthodontic bond strength and enamel-preserving ability of a hydroxyapatite nanoparticles-containingself-etch system following exposure to various ageing methods. Materials and Methods. Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (nHAp) were incorporated into an orthodontic self-etch primer (SEP, Transbond™ plus) in three different concentrations (5%, 7%, and 9% wt) and tested versus the plain SEP (control) for shear bond strength (SBS), adhesive remnant index (ARI) scores, and enamel damage in range-finding experiments using premolar teeth. The best-performing formulation was further exposed to the following four artificial ageing methods: initial debonding, 24 h water storage, one-month water stora
... Show MoreIn this study Isolated Pathogenic bacteria which causes Conjunctivitis in Children with ages between less than 3 year to17 years, admitted to Ibn Al-Haitham Eye Specialist Hospital. 102 cases were collected which include 69 Male Formed (68%) and 33 Female Formed (32%). The result of the recent study shows that the highest percentage of Male was 21% for 1113year ages and the lowest percentage was 3% for less than 3 year to 5 year ages. In Female the highest percentage was 15% for 9-11year ages and the lowest percentage was 1% for 1517year ages. In this study fifty tow isolates were identified, Gram Positive Bacteria were Predominant compared with Gram Negative Bacteria. With 32 isolates which formed (62%) whereas the number o
... Show MoreBackground: One of the major problems in endodontics is micro-leakage of root canal fillings which might contribute to the failure of endodontic treatment. To avoid this problem, a variety of sealers have been tested. The objective of this, in vitro, study was to evaluate the shear bond strength of four resin based sealers (AH plus, silver free AH26, RealSeal SE and Perma Evolution permanent root canal filling material) to dentin. Materials and Methods: Forty non-carious extracted lower premolars were used. The 2mm of the occlusal surfaces of teeth were sectioned, to expose the dentin surface. The exposed dentin surfaces of teeth were washed with 5ml of 2.5% NaOCl solution followed by 5ml of 17 % EDTA then rinsed by deionized water to remov
... Show More