Efficacy of an LED toothbrush on a Porphyromonas gingivalis biofilm on a sandblasted and acid-etched titanium surface: an in vitro study

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial effect of a newly devised toothbrush with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on Porphyromonas gingivalis attached to sandblasted and acid-etched titanium surfaces. METHODS: The study included a control group, a commercial photodynamic therapy (PDT) group, and 3 test groups (B, BL, and BLE). The disks in the PDT group were placed in methylene blue and then irradiated with a diode laser. The B disks were only brushed, the BL disks were brushed with an LED toothbrush, and the BLE disks were placed into erythrosine and then brushed with an LED toothbrush. After the different treatments, bacteria were detached from the disks and spread on selective agar. The number of viable bacteria and percentage of bacterial reduction were determined from colony counts. Scanning electron microscopy was performed to visualize bacterial alterations. RESULTS: The number of viable bacteria in the BLE group was significantly lower than that in the other groups (P<0.05). Scanning electron microscopy showed that bacterial cell walls were intact in the control and B groups, but changed after commercial PDT and LED exposure. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that an LED toothbrush with erythrosine treatment was more effective than a commercial PDT kit in reducing the number of P. gingivalis cells attached to surface-modified titanium in vitro.