# Chronic dental lighting disrupts blood-retinal barrier homeostasis via vascular and inflammatory pathways

## TL;DR

Chronic exposure to dental lighting can damage the blood-retinal barrier and cause vision issues through vascular and inflammatory effects.

## Contribution

The study reveals chronic dental lighting's impact on retinal health and identifies safer light sources for dentists.

## Key findings

- Chronic dental lighting disrupts both inner and outer blood-retinal barriers and reduces retinal blood vessels.
- Blue and white LEDs significantly damage the blood-retinal barrier, while low-intensity halogen causes minimal damage.
- Inflammatory pathways like NF-κB signaling are activated, leading to retinal functional damage.

## Abstract

Excessive lighting is integral to dentists’ daily routines but can impair their vision, affecting personal and professional performance. Most studies focus on acute photodamage, neglecting chronic photo-injury from dental lighting and its impact on the blood-retinal barrier homeostasis. An epidemiological survey involving 14,523 individuals showed dentists had 3.6 times higher odds of vision-related issues compared to other occupations (OR = 3.639, 95% CI: 3.064–4.323). Subsequently, chronic photodamage models in rats were created to accurately simulate dental working conditions. Using systematic imaging and gene analysis, including OCT, tissue clearing technology and RNA-sequencing, dental lighting was found to disrupted both inner and outer blood-retinal barriers, reduced retinal blood vessels, and promoted perivascular macrophage recruitment. Among them, the number of capillary branches decreased sharply. Moreover, the activation of inflammatory-related pathways such as NF-κB signaling resulted in the damage of vision-related functional structures in the retina. Notably, among three dental light sources, low-intensity halogen caused minimal retinal damage, whereas blue and white LEDs significantly disrupted blood-retinal barrier homeostasis. This study explored the potential mechanism of dental lighting environment inducing the disruption of blood-retinal barrier homeostasis, and provided essential guidance for dental professionals in selecting light sources, which is conducive to reducing the risk of occupational ocular diseases among dentists.