Prevention of caries by pulsed CO2 laser pre-treatment of enamel: an in-vitro study.

The aim of the study was to assess the caries inhibitory potential of carbon dioxide laser and explore the effect of the number of pulses used to correlate caries inhibition. Caries free human mandibular molars were irradiated with carbon-dioxide laser of wavelength 10.6 microm at 5, 15, 25, 50 and 100 pulses. Simulated caries lesions were allowed to form by immersing the teeth in artificial caries medium for three weeks. Thin sections of 75 microns were obtained by using hard tissue microtome. These sections were observed under polarizing microscope, caries lesions were identified and their depth was measured. These values were subjected to statistical analysis. The results showed that carbon-dioxide laser irradiation can inhibit caries like lesion upto 82.7% and it was optimal at 25 pulses.