Comparison of the effectiveness of low-level laser therapy in the control of oral pain conditions

Abstract

Introduction: Pain, which accompanies the everyday life of dentists and their patients, can have various features—it can be spontaneous or provoked, with clear or vague etiology, iatrogenic, psychogenic or neuropathic one. Our main goal as professionals is to control pain and improve our patients’ personal and social life. Two of the oral pain conditions are still a challenge for us—burning mouth syndrome (BMS) and dentin hypersensitivity (DHS). Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) has been considered as a suitable treatment approach for both of them.Aim: Our purpose is to compare the effectiveness of low-level laser therapy in the control of two different oral pain conditions.Materials and Methods: Individuals with different oral pain conditions are object of the study. They are divided into two groups—patients with primary BMS and patients with dentin hypersensitivity. Both genders and all age groups are included.Diode laser with two different wavelengths (λ = 904 nm and λ = 658 nm) is used for the treatment protocol. The BMS cases are irradiated 10 times, and DHS cases—6 times. Pain is evaluated through visual analogue scale (BMS) or a specific 4-point scale (DHS).Results: There is an improvement of symptoms in both studied groups; however, LLLT seems to be slightly more effective in the treatment of BMS.Conclusion: Low-level laser therapy is effective, safe, easily applicable and relatively cheap treatment method for oral pain conditions