Comparison of three lasers on dental pulp chamber temperature change.

Previous studies have reported dental pulp chamber temperature changes using only one beam size per laser. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of beam size, wattage, and energy density on pulp chamber temperature changes of extracted human teeth for three lasers (CO 2, Argon, Nd:YAG). During laser irradiation of the outer enamel surface, a thermocouple was placed in the pulp chamber which measured and recorded the temperature changes. This was done for each combination of lasing dosimetry parameters. In all cases the recorded temperatures increased with the increase in beam size for a given energy density (J/cm 2) and wattage. Also, the recorded temperatures increased with increased energy density for a given wattage and beam size.