Antimicrobial effects of non-thermal atmospheric plasma as a novel root canal disinfectant

This study aimed to investigate effects of non-thermal atmospheric plasma on an Enterococcus faecalis biofilm within the canals of extracted human teeth. A significant decrease in the number of CFU׳s was observed after 2 min cold plasma treatment with an average kill rate of 99.999%. MTT assay showed a significant reduction in the viability of bacteria with a reduction rate of 98.939%. XTT assay showed a reduction of bacterial metabolic activity by 99.7%. Both 2 min cold plasma and 6% NaOCl greatly reduced the viability and metabolic activity of E. faecalis bacteria, but there is no significant difference between them.