Effects of diode laser on direct pulp capping treatment : a pilot study.

Abstract

At the present time, evidence-based, best practices have yet to be established for maintaining the vitality of teeth by managing caries-associated pulp exposure in permanent teeth. In terms of biomechanical and esthetic considerations, pulp capping has proven to be more effective than root-canal therapy. Given the low success rate of conventional methods, new techniques, such as laser-assisted repairs, should be developed. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of conventional and diode laser-assisted methods in direct pulp capping of carious teeth. Ten patients ranging in age from 12 to 40 were assigned randomly to experimental and control groups in this clinical trial in which the participants' teeth were treated with different techniques, i.e., conventional treatment and diode 808-nm, laser-assisted treatment. For each of these groups, five cases were chosen for treatment with the same method under rubber dam isolation. The data were analyzed by the runs test using SPSS software. The success rate was significantly different between conventional (60 %) and diode 808-nm, laser-assisted (100 %) groups after one year (P > 0.05). The laser-assisted procedure proved to be more effective than the conventional technique in enhancing the outcomes of pulp-capping therapy in carious exposures.