Capillary-tube-based micro-plasma system for disinfecting dental biofilm

Abstract

Purpose: A low-temperature low-energy capillary-tube-based argon micro-plasma system was applied to disinfect Streptococcus mutans-containing biofilm.

Materials and methods: The micro-plasma system uses a hollow inner electrode that is ignited by a radio-frequency power supply with a matching network. The energy content was analyzed using optical emission spectroscopy. The micro-plasma-induced effect on a biofilm cultured for 24 or 48 h with a working distance of ≈3 mm at low temperature was evaluated. The morphologies of the treated live/dead bacteria and the produced polysaccharides after micro-plasma treatment were examined.

Results: Scanning electron microscopy images and staining results show that most of the S. mutans on the treated biofilm were acutely damaged within a micro-plasma treatment time of 300 s.

Conclusions: The number of living bacteria underneath the treated biofilm greatly decreased with treatment time. The proposed micro-plasma system can thus disinfect S. mutans on/in biofilms.

Keywords::

• Streptococcus mutans
• biofilm
• micro-plasma treatment
• disinfection

Declaration of interest The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper. This work was supported by the National Science Council of Taiwan under grant NSC 99–2221-E-006–013-MY3 and the Medical Device Innovation Center under grant D100–21001.