Cementum melting after dye-assisted holmium laser irradiation

Dye-assisted laser irradiation with black ink or vegetable coal has been used in procedures involving hard tissue irradiation using neodymium or diode lasers. The objective of this work is to evaluate the human root surface melting, after dye-assisted holmium irradiation with subablative fluences. Human cervical root regions were selected, irradiated with a holmium laser with emission at 2.065 Am, pulse width of 400 As, and repetition rate of 0.5 Hz. The tissue irradiation occurred with two fluences, between 10-20 and 25-35 J/cm(2). With the fluence between 10-20 J/cm(2), the irradiation melted the tissue only at some isolated areas and the dentinal tubules present in the surface were not totally occluded, while the fluence between 25-35 J/cm(2) melted the tissue in entire analyzed area. Dye-assisted holmium irradiation in the subablative regime produced a melted surface without the presence of superficial ablation. Procedures that melt the tissue can be applied in dentinal tubules occlusion, but to confirm the proposed procedure is necessary to evaluate the tubules occlusion and the melted surface chemical stability at low pH environment. (C) 2004 Laser Institute of America.