Adhesion studies on dental enamel surfaces irradiated by a rapidly scanned carbon dioxide laser

In this study, we investigated the influence of different laser scanning patterns on the adhesive strength of laser irradiated enamel surfaces both with and without post ablation acid etching. Previous studies of dental enamel surfaces ablated by a rapidly scanned carbon dioxide laser indicated that the highly uniform smooth surfaces produced by the scanned laser beam yielded low bond strength and acid etching was required in order to attain a high bond strength. However, since the enamel surface after ablation by CO(2) lasers is more resistant to acid dissolution it is desirable to avoid acid etching before bonding. The overlap between adjacent laser spots was varied to modify the effective surface roughness. In addition, small retention holes were drilled at higher laser intensity with varying spacing to increase the adhesive strength without acid etching. Varying the degree of overlap between adjacent laser spots did not significantly influence the bond strength with post ablation acid etching. The bond strength was significantly higher without acid etching with retention holes spaced 250-µm apart.