Direct Induced Effects of Standard and Modified Radiotherapy Protocol on Surface Structure of Hard Dental Tissue

• Published in: Acta stomatologica croatica 2021-12, Vol.55 (4), p.334-345
• Main Authors: Klarić Sever, Eva, Tarle, Andro, Vukelja, Josipa, Soče, Majana, Grego, Timor
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dental Enamel; Long Term Adverse Effects Author keywords: Conventional Irradiation; MeSH terms: Dentin; Radiotherapy; Surface Properties; Vickers Hardness
• ISSN: 0001-7019; 1846-0410
• DOI: 10.15644/asc55/4/1

Radiotherapy is used to treat neo plasmatic lesions and the common side effects of this process are pain, swelling and sensitivity of mucous membranes in domain of radiation, reduced salivation, caries, and periodontal disease and, in total, low life quality. The purpose of this research was to estimate the outcome of direct irradiation on physical and surface characteristics of hard dental tissues. Twenty, caries free third molars were involved in the research. Prior to different submission protocols, tooth halves were randomly assigned to subject and control groups by using a draw method. The first group (n=20) was submitted to conventional irradiation protocol (2 Gy for 35 days), second group (n=20) was submitted to one powerful, exploratory dose of 70 Gy. Each sample served as its own control. Radiation was performed with a linear accelerator radiotherapy unit. The surface microhardness and roughness were measured at the beginning (initially), and upon completion of irradiation procedure. The average change in microhardness and roughness after different treatments was compared by t-test for independent samples. Normality was tested by the Shapiro-Wilk test. Significant differences were found after the standard radiation protocol and the exploratory dose of 70 Gy, with decreased mean microhardness and increased mean roughness (p