A blue curing light used to harden dental fillings appears to also stunt tumor growth in oral cancer, according to researchers from the Medical College of Georgia (MCG).
"The light sends wavelengths of blue-violet light to the composite, which triggers hardening," said Alpesh Patel, a junior at the MCG School of Dentistry. "The light waves produce free radicals that activate the catalyst and speed up polymerization of the composite resin. In oral cancer cells, though, those radicals cause damage that decreases cell growth and increases cell death."
Patel studied 10 tumor-bearing mice, five treated with the light and five untreated. He exposed half the mice to the blue light for 90 seconds a day for 12 days. When the tumors were extracted, tissue analysis indicated a nearly 80% decrease in cell growth in the light-treated tumors.
"One desirable feature we've observed with the blue light is that noncancerous cells appear unaffected at light doses that kill tumor cells," said Jill Lewis, Ph.D., an associate professor of oral biology at MCG, who worked with Patel on this research.
Patel presented his findings at the 2008 American Association for Dental Research Dentsply/Caulk Student Research Group Award Competition, winning third place in the basic science category.
