Investigation of the use of atmospheric pressure cold plasma in restorative dental treatment

The aim of this master thesis study is to show the direct and indirect effects of atmospheric pressure cold plasma on teeth whitening effectiveness in dentistry. For this purpose, the use of cold plasma application (direct effect) and cold plasma activated deionized water (indirect effect) as a unique whitening agent in restorative dentistry have been demonstrated. 55 freshly extracted human anterior incisors are colored with coffee. As experimental groups; Control, PAW, Peroxide, Plasma and Plasma+Paw groups were determined. After the tooth groups were bleached (Control group was not included in bleaching), their colors were measured using a spectrophotometer, and the color changes before and after the procedure were recorded as ΔE1. Then, all tooth groups were kept in artificial saliva for 24 hours to evaluate the color returns due to dehydration-remineralization and color measurement was taken again. New changes in color values were recorded as ΔE2. It was determined that the whitening efficiency value (ΔE1) in cold plasma applied groups was higher than ΔE2 among all groups. However, when the color returns due to dehydration and remineralization were evaluated, it was seen that the most affected groups were again the plasma groups. The temperature increase caused by the cold plasma application on the teeth was at a critical level. The whitening efficiency of the Plasma group and Plasma+Paw group was successful. The bleaching efficiency of PAW, obtained as a result of plasma application to deionized water, showed as effective whitening as conventional 40% hydrogen peroxide. Also included are FTIR spectroscopy images showing the effects of He and Ar plasmas on the adhesive that cold plasma induces polymerization in self-etch adhesive versus conventional photopolymerization.