RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The failure of endodontic treatment is linked to the presence of microorganisms, particularly Enterococcus faecalis, in the root canals. This study evaluated the effectiveness of photodynamic therapy (PDT) using erythrosine irradiated by a high-power curing light on a planktonic suspension culture of E. faecalis. METHODS: Bacterial suspensions of E. faecalis were adjusted and then mixed in a 1:1 proportion, in triplicate, in treatment groups by varying the length of irradiation time (120 and 240s) and the molarity of the erythrosine (5 and 10µM). In order to verify the post-treatment bactericidal effect, a count of the viable bacteria was performed (CFUmL-1) and transformed into Log10 CFU. The one-way ANOVA with Tukey post-hoc test was applied to check for differences between the groups. RESULTS: The bacteria were completely eradicated in the groups that used PDT with 5µM 240s, 10µM 120s and 10µM 240s (pâª0.001). The effect of the PDT 5µM 120s group was significant (pâª0.05) in comparison with the groups using only light or only erythrosine. Positive control (exposure to 2.5% NaClO for 120 and 240s) completely eradicated E. faecalis. The negative control (PBS) did not alter the quantities of E. faecalis CFU with 9.605 Log10 CFU at 120s and 9.621 Log10 CFU at 240s. CONCLUSION: PDT with erythrosine in a concentration of 10µM and high-power LED is capable of totally eliminating E. faecalis in planktonic suspension.