Comparison of Phosphoric Acid 37% and Er:YAG Laser Used to Prepare Dental Enamel Palatal Surface before Bonding Braces

Background: Adhesion of braces to dental enamel is critical for orthodontic treatments, for that purpose, phosphoric acid has been used successfully to prepare dental enamel surface before bonding braces. ER:YAG laser has proved ability to do the same over buccal surfaces of dental enamel, but the increasing interest for lingual orthodontics leaded to the question whether ER:YAG laser can prepare equally palatal and buccal surfaces for bonding lingual braces. Material and methods: 15 teeth that were extracted for clinical purposes were microscopic electronic scanned (MES) before treatment, after phosphoric acid 37%, and after ER:YAG laser irradiated, images of buccal and palatal faces after each treatment were analyzed by image J software. Results: After all treatments enamel surfaces were mostly type 1, no statistically significant differences were found between groups. Conclusion: Phosphoric acid 37% and the used dose of Er:YAG laser can successfully prepare dental enamel surface before bonding braces over buccal and palatal faces of teeth.