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Lasers Med Sci (2010) 25:503509 DOI 10.1007/s10103-009-0675-2
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Laser-assisted in-office bleachingusing a neodymium:yttriumaluminumgarnet laser: an in vivo study
Andrea Strobl & Norbert Gutknecht & Ren Franzen &
Ralf-Dieter Hilgers & Friedrich Lampert & Jrg Meister
Received: 23 January 2009 /Accepted: 5 April 2009 /Published online: 9 May 2009 # Springer-Verlag London Limited 2009
Abstract The desire for perfect and white teeth can be accomplished in aesthetical dentistry by modern tooth bleaching methods. Within the scope of a clinical study, laser assisted in-office bleaching was applied to the teeth of 20 individual patients with a neodymium:yttriumaluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser (=1.064 m, average power 4 W, pulse repetition rate 10 Hz, pulse duration 320 s). The treatment was carried out in a split-mouth design, each patient having two appointments with 1 week in between. Laser activation of the bleaching agent was performed on teeth 14 11 and 3431 per session, with a total irradiation time of 30 s per tooth. The initial and the final color of the teeth were ascertained by VITA Colorsticks and the dental chromatometer ShadeEye NCC. Whitening was detected in the laser-activated and in the non-activated quadrants. Statistical evaluation showed that the additional activation of the bleaching agent by the Nd:YAG laser had produced no significant influence on the whitening (P>0.05). The results achieved in this study should be scrutinized critically. They give cause for one to reconsider the treatment conditions or
the laser parameters used, or even to query the application of the Nd:YAG laser in general during in-office bleaching.
Keywords Laser bleaching .
Neodymium:yttriumaluminumgarnet (Nd:YAG) laser . In-office bleaching . Split-mouth design . VITA scale . ShadeEye NCC . Hypersensitivity
Introduction
Aesthetical dentistry is a widely discussed topic in the dental field. Especially, the media-influenced tide of having perfect and white teeth arouses the interest of the population. Here, modern tooth bleaching methods provide the basis for a real-time, successful, and affordable accomplishment of tooth whitening [1, 2]. One of these methods is the laser-assisted in-office bleaching procedure. In this case the classical energy sources such as heat or light, which are needed for thermal and/or chemical activation of the bleaching agent, are replaced by a laser system [35]. A prime advantage of laser radiation is that it assists the...