Efficacy of low-level laser therapy in accelerating tooth movement, preventing relapse and managing acute pain during orthodontic treatment in humans: a systematic review

Abstract

BackgroundRecently low-level laser therapy (LLLT) has been proposed to improve orthodontic treatment. The aims of this systematic review were to investigate the scientific evidence to support applications of LLLT: (a) to accelerate tooth movement, (b) to prevent orthodontic relapse and (c) to modulate acute pain, during treatment with fixed appliances in children and young adults.MethodsTo ensure a systematic literature approach, this systematic review was conducted to Goodman’s four step model. Three databases were searched (Medline, Cochrane Controlled Clinical Trials Register and Scitation), using predetermined search terms. The quality of evidence was rated according to the GRADE system.ResultsThe search identified 244 articles, 16 of which fulfilled the inclusion criteria: three on acceleration of tooth movement by LLLT and 13 on LLLT modulation of acute pain. No study on LLLT for prevention of relapse was identified. The selected studies reported promising results for LLLT; elevated acceleration of tooth movement and lower pain scores, than controls. With respect to method, there were wide variations in type of laser techniques.ConclusionsThe quality of evidence supporting LLLT to accelerate orthodontic tooth movement is very low and low with respect to modulate acute pain. No studies met the inclusion criteria for evaluating LLLT to limit relapse. The results highlight the need for high quality research, with consistency in study design, to determine whether LLLT can enhance fixed appliance treatment in children and young adults.

Low-level laser therapy (830 nm) on orthodontic pain: blinded randomized clinical trial

“…The studies that have found that laser therapy decreases [25][26][27][28][29][30][31] or does not decrease [19,24,32] pain are difficult to directly compare with the present results. Among the four studies that used a VAS and true placebo controls, two detected significant laser effects on pain agreeing with our results [28,29], while the remaining reported no treatment effect [19,24,32,33]. The differences among the studies are probably due to the different power, energy, and wavelength settings used (Table 3) [19,29].…”

“…The literature clearly shows a difference of laser parameters in the treatments for pain and orthodontic movement [10,11,13,29,[33][34][35]. In the treatment of pain, both potency and higher doses have presented better results.…”

Effectiveness of adjunctive interventions for accelerating orthodontic tooth movement: a systematic review of systematic reviews

“…Full texts of the 26 studies were retrieved and were evaluated according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Finally, 11 SRs were included in our review . The detailed literature search process is presented in Fig.…”

Eficácia Do Laser De Baixa Intensidade Na Aceleração Do Movimento Ortodôntico

“…Doshi-Mehta e Bhad-Patil (2012), Youssef et al (2008) e Qamruddin et al (2017) consideraram eficaz o laser para reduzir os níveis de dor; entretanto, Limpanichkul et al (2006) não encontraram nenhuma diferença significante. Os efeitos colaterais do tratamento com LBI devem ser considerados antes do seu uso na prática clínica (SONESSON et al, 2016). O movimento acelerado aumenta o risco de reabsorção radicular; mas, apenas dois estudos utilizaram radiografias para monitorar essas possíveis alterações radiográficas (DOSHI-MEHTA e BHAD-PATIL, 2012;SOUSA et al, 2011).…”