Effect of argon laser irradiation on instrumented root canal walls

The objective of the study was to examine whether argon laser has a property to remove debris and smear layer from root canal walls. Twelve endodontically treated human maxillary molar teeth with three root canals were divided into two groups of six teeth. The first group was left unlased as a control; in the second group the root canals were irradiated by argon laser (laser parameters were set at 1 W and pulse duration and pulse frequency fixed at 0.05 s and 5 Hz). After the usual root canal preparation and lasing had been carried out, the teeth were decoronated, bisected longitudinally, observed with a scanning electron microscope and evaluated as to how clean the surfaces of root canal walls were. In most cases control teeth presented surfaces with debris covering the root canals, obscuring the dentinal tubules. Only 1 of 18 specimens was free of debris. In the lased group, root canal surfaces free of debris and vaporized pulpal tissue remnants were observed in 13 of 18 specimens. The results showed significant statistical differences between the control group and the lased groups (P<0.001). These results suggested that argon laser irradiation has an efficient cleaning effect on instrumented root canal surfaces.