Photoelimination of Streptococcus mutans with two methods of photodynamic and photothermal therapy.

BACKGROUND Increasing resistance of oral pathogens to conventional antibacterial agents has resulted to find alternative therapies to overcome resistance development problems; hence this in vitro study was carried out to investigate the efficacy of photoelimination of Streptococcus mutans with two methods of photodynamic and photothermal therapy. METHODS Standard Suspensions of S. mutans were treated in two groups of photodynamic therapy with Toluidine blue O and Rhadachlorin(®) and photothermal therapy by EmunDo(®) and their individual light sources, then Bacterial suspension from each treatment was subcultured on the surface of Mueller-Hinton agar plates and bacterial growth was assessed. The results were analyzed by analysis of variance and Tukey test (p<0.05). RESULTS After treatments significant reduction of S. mutans viability in planktonic culture was observed in both groups of photodynamic and photothermal therapy with no priority. CONCLUSION Photoelimination can be a novel modality in the eradication of S. mutans colonies in near future.