Use of the carbon dioxide laser in sterilization of endodontic reamers.

The object of this study was to test a new method of sterilizing endodontic instruments by using a carbon dioxide laser system. This was done by contaminating endodontic reamers with spores, exposing them to a CO2 laser beam, and checking for their viability by standard microbiologic techniques. It was found that 100 percent of the spores were killed by the CO2 laser. This holds promise as an effective method of sterilizing endodontic instruments in the future.