Method: Twenty extracted human teeth were used, with one root serving as the control HC cleaned side and the other root the TGB side. Following pre instrumentation impressions, test surfaces were instrumented for sixty seconds with either an HC or the TGB. Replicas of the impressions in resin were fabricated, sputter coated, then examined with SEM. Images were compared using an image analysis system to determine changes in the samples after treatment. In addition, 10 volunteers analyzed the SEM micrographs using a visual analog scale to score differences between groups. Surface roughness was determined with a profilometer at a constant speed of 0.05 mm/s, using a cut-off of 0.25 mm and characterized by the arithmetical mean of surface roughness. To examine item validity, Spearman's correlation coefficients were calculated between each of the two treatments and surface roughness.
Result: Data from the surface roughness test suggested that there was no significant difference between use of the TGB and the HC. Similar results were obtained when ten independent examiners used a Likert-based scale to evaluate SEM micrographs of the replicated teeth both before and after treatment with either the TGB or HC. While some variation was present in interexaminer scores, at no time was the HC removal method rated as superior to the TGB technique.
Conclusion: While further studies are needed, these initial results suggest that our newly developed TGB has the potential for being an effective method for removing granulation tissue from teeth.