Reliability of laser Doppler flowmetry in testing vitality of human teeth

The aim of this investigation was to study the reliability of the laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) output signals when testing from 4 different positions on the buccal surface of human teeth. Recordings were made from 10 intact anterior teeth in 10 patients, mean age 27.4 years. Five types of probes were used. Each probe had 3 fibers arranged in a triangle, one lighted fiber and 2 receiving ones. The separation of the fibers was 1500, 1000, 800, 500 and 250 microns. The diameter of the fibers was 200 microns in all probes except the one with the smallest separation of fibers where it was 125 microns. A rubber base splint was used to position the probe on the buccal surface of the teeth tested. The first recording was made with the ingoing light in a gingival position. Then 3 additional recordings were made turning the probe 90 degrees each time consequently changing the position of the ingoing light accordingly. Thus, gingival, mesial, incisal and distal recordings were obtained. The output signals were fed into a lap-top computer upon which all calculations were done. The output signals from the incisalmost position of the teeth were significantly lower than the output signals from the other 3 positions with all probes except one. The turning of the probes into the 4 different positions affected the output signals from the probe with the smallest separation of fibers significantly more than the output signals from the other probes.