Comparative assessment of the sealing ability of Nd:YAG laser versus a new desensitizing agent in human dentinal tubules: a pilot study

Abstract

Dentinal hypersensitivity is a painful condition that occurs following periodontal treatment. Many treatment alternatives have been considered for this problem, including treatments with laser and dentinal adhesives. This study compared the sealing ability of Nd:YAG laser versus a new resin in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs. Ten human premolars were sectioned yielding 30 specimens of each premolar, which were randomly divided into three groups. The laser group was irradiated by Nd:YAG laser (1 W, 10 Hz, 60 s), the resin group was treated with the new Seal & Protect resin according to the manufacturer's instructions, and the third group served as the control group and did not receive any interventions. After preparation and gold coating of the samples, they were photographed by SEM at two magnifications (1500× and 4000×). The number and diameter (μm) of the dentinal tubules were recorded in selected fields, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey tests were used to determine significant differences between groups. The ANOVA results revealed significant differences in both the mean number (P < 0.001) and diameter (P < 0.05) among the three groups. Further statistical analysis showed a significant difference between the laser group and the resin group in both outcome measures (P < 0.05). Thus, both Nd:YAG laser and the new resin reduced the number and diameter of open dentinal tubules, a result that also explains the desensitization mechanism of these interventions. We further conclude that application of the new resin is more effective than Nd:YAG laser in minimizing the number and diameter of exposed dentinal tubules.