Viability of intratubular bacteria after chemomechanical caries removal

The aim of this study was to assess the effect on bacterial viability within dentinal tubules after the application of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl)- or enzyme-based chemomechanical caries removal agents.

Twenty-five caries-free dentin discs prepared from 25 sound maxillary premolars were used. The discs were then infected with Streptococcus mutans suspension and randomly divided into the following 6 groups according to the dentin treatments: the negative control group: noninfected sound dentin discs, the positive control group: infected discs were left untreated; the NaOCl group: treated with 5% NaOCl solution, the chlorhexidine (CHX) group: 2% CHX solution, the Carisolv group: Carisolv gel (Medi Team Dentalutveckling AB, Savedalen, Sweden), and the Papacarie group: Papacarie gel (Formula & Acao, São Paulo, Brazil). All the agents were applied for 5 minutes. The dentin discs were fractured into 2 halves and stained with fluorescent LIVE/DEAD Stain (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR). Each specimen was observed using confocal laser scanning microscopy at 5 different randomly selected sites.

The results of 1-way analysis of variance revealed that 5% NaOCl solution achieved the highest intratubular antibacterial effect, whereas Carisolv gel had the lowest antibacterial effect (P < .05). No significant difference in antibacterial effect was observed between the Papacarie gel and 2% CHX solution (P > .05).

The enzyme-based chemomechanical caries removal (Papacarie) was effective in the reduction of residual cariogenic bacteria in the dentinal tubules of coronal dentin.