Postantibiotic Effects of Photodynamic Therapy Using Erythrosine and Light Emitting Diode on Streptococcus mutans

ABSTRACT

Dental caries, the most common oral disease, is a multifactorial disease caused by interactions among bacteria within the dental plaque, food, and saliva, resulting in tooth destruction. Streptococcus mutans has been strongly implicated as the causative organism in dental caries and is frequently isolated from human dental plaque. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a technique that involves the activation of photosensitizer by light in the presence of tissue oxygen, resulting in the production of reactive radicals capable of inducing cell death. Postantibiotic effect (PAE) is defined as the duration of suppressed bacterial growth following brief exposure to an antibiotic. In this study, the in vitro PAE of PDT using erythrosine and light emitting diode on S. mutans ATCC 25175 was investigated. The PAE of PDT for 1 s irradiation and 3 s irradiation were 1.65 h and 2.1 h, respectively. The present study thus confirmed PAE of PDT using erythrosine on S. mutans.