Measurement of pulpal blood flow in humans using laser Doppler flowmetry: a technique allowing stability and repeatability of pulpal blood flow measurement during surgical manipulations.

This study was undertaken to validate the repeatability of pulpal blood flow in human teeth with the laser Doppler flowmetry technique using a repeatable method of attachment of the laser Doppler probe. The variation in laser Doppler flowmetry measurements was evaluated over time periods that ranged from hours to days. In a prospective study, the pulpal blood flow was recorded from a maxillary central incisor (randomly selected) at a site directly gingival to the orthodontic bracket of three subjects. Measurements were made eight times over a 2-week period and every 30 minutes over 4 hours for eight recordings. The results indicated that there was only a slight difference between the temporal variability of the laser Doppler measurements over the course of 4 hours (intraday variability) or 2 weeks (interday variability). Furthermore, it appeared that subjects varied in their mean value recordings and may have varied widely in their respective signal-to-noise ratios.