抄録
A possibility of the He-Ne laser application for human dental plaque control was investigated. Twenty adult volunteers participated in this experiment. One of the premolar teeth on one side of a subject was irradiated by the He-Ne laser for 3min., once a day, for 3 days, at an output power of 20mW, while one of the premolar teeth on the other side was left unirradiated as a control. The number of cultivable plaque bacteria was found to be reduced by He-Ne laser irradiation when dental plaque was stained with methylene blue-based plaque-disclosing dye. No similar decrease in cultivable bacteria was observed when the laser irradiation or the plaque-disclosing dye alone was used. From these results, the photodynamic killing mediated by He-Ne laser irradiation was shown to affect oral bacteria in vivo, and the potential application of this new modality for dental plaque control is discussed.
