A blue curing light used to harden dental fillings also may stunt tumor growth.
The blue-violet light produce free radicals that activate the catalyst and speed up polymerization of the composite resin. In oral cancer cells, though, those same free radicals can cause damage that decreases cell growth and increases cell death.
Researchers studied 10 tumor-bearing mice, five treated with the light and five untreated. Tissue analysis indicated an approximate 10 percent increase in cancer cell suicide, or apoptosis, in the light-treated tumors, and a nearly 80 percent decrease in cell growth in the light-treated tumors.