Enhanced Recovery of Local Anesthesia in Pediatric Patients: The Impact of Photobiomodulation on Reversing Anesthesia Effects

Abstract

Background The split-mouth study design is used in oral health research and usually consists of 2 treatments randomly assigned to either the right or left side. This split-mouth study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of photobiomodulation on reversal of local anesthesia in 50 children aged 8–10 years. Material/Methods The study was conducted among 50 children: 27 girls and 23 boys, aged 8–10 years (mean age 9.38±1.15 years), who presented 2 carious maxillary permanent molars. One side was randomly assigned to the laser group (50 teeth), and the contralateral side to the control group (50 teeth). At the end of the treatment, photobiomodulation (PBM) was performed in the area of infiltration at 6 points, with 635 nm (25 children) (250 mW, 500 mW/cm 2 , 15J) and 808 nm (25 children) (200 mW, 400 mW/cm 2 , 12J) (SmartM PRO, Lasotronix, Poland). On the contralateral side, the laser’s off-mode applicator was used. Anesthetic effect was evaluated by palpation test (soft tissues) and electrical test (dental pulp). Results After 15 minutes, in the laser group the return to normal sensations in the palpation test showed 88% (808 nm) and 68% (635 nm), and only 20% in the control group ( P =0.04123). After 45 minutes, all the participants from the PBM group returned to normal sensations ( P =0.21458). Dental pulp’s excitability threshold was lower for both wavelengths compared to the control group ( P =0.000001). Conclusions The identification of factors accelerating the recovery time to normal function, such as PBM, can be used as important data to eliminate self-injury secondary to local anesthesia (LA) in children.