Introduction: To achieve an ideal substrate for dentin bonding the surface needs a prior treatment either through acid etching or application of hard tissue lasers. The advent of lasers with its various advantages and multiple applications has lead to a wide acceptance of this modality as an option for etching of dental hard tissues.
Background: The present study aims to compare surface characteristics after etching by 37% phosphoric acid and Er,Cr:YSGG on the dentinal surfaces of extracted tooth specimens.
Methods: The sectioned dentin samples of forty posterior non diseased extracted teeth were reduced to a thickness of 1.0 ± 0.5mm. The 40 prepared and mounted specimens were then divided in 3 groups GrD1, GrD2 and GrD3. The GrD1 served as control group while GrD2 was treated by Conditioner 36(36% phosphoric acid) and GrD3 by Er,Cr:YSGG laser. Then an ESEM comparative analysis was done for smear layer removal and the diameter of dentinal tubules.
Results: Chi Square test was performed for removal of smear layer and GSA image analyser was used to measure tubule diameter. The difference between group GrD2 and GrD3 for smear layer removal was statistically insignificant (p>.05). The ‘t’ value for student‘t’ test between groups GrD2 and GrD3 was 18.10 for the comparison of dentinal tubule diameter which was a highly significant result( p< .001).
Conclusion: The smear layer removal of lased dentinal surfaces and acid treated surfaces showed no statistical differences. The mean diameter of dentinal tubules after acid etching was 2.78 µm and lased surfaces were 1.09 µm on an average. This was a statistically significant result which will have great influence on hypersensitivity but further in vivo studies are needed to prove this.
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2022: 6.012
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