Effect of non-vital tooth bleaching photoactivated with blue or violet LED on color and microhardness.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the efficacy of dental bleaching protocols using 35% hydrogen peroxide photoactivated with violet LED on color and microhardness of endodontically treated teeth. METHODS: Forty specimens were selected and randomized into 4 groups (n = 10): C - Control, HP - 35% hydrogen peroxide, HP + BL - 35% hydrogen peroxide + blue LED, HP + VL - 35% hydrogen peroxide + violet LED. Three bleaching sessions were performed for each group. Color analysis was performed 7 days after each bleaching session. Two-way repeated measure ANOVA and Bonferroni test were used to evaluate the effect of different bleaching protocols and evaluation times on the dependent variables (∆E and ∆L). Dentin microhardness was measured 24 h after the third bleaching session. Data were evaluated by ANOVA and Tukey's test at a significance level of 5%. RESULTS: Differences on ∆E and ∆L were verified after the first and second bleaching sessions (p < 0.05) and showed stability after the third one, for all the groups. No differences were observed among HP, HP + BL, and HP + VL groups, regardless of the evaluation time (p > 0.05). HP and C showed the greatest and smallest reduction in dentin microhardness (p < 0.05), respectively. No difference between HP + BL and HP + VL protocols (P > 0.05) was observed. CONCLUSIONS: High concentration hydrogen peroxide (35%) photoactivated with violet LED bleached endodontically treated teeth effectively. However, the same protocol negatively affected the dentin microhardness, but not in the same level of 35% HP solely used.