Combating pain following endodontic treatment: lasers vs. conventional options
Investigators have assessed the effectiveness of using laser therapy to reduce postoperative pain in patients who underwent primary and secondary endodontic treatment.
In a systematic review and meta-analysis published in Scientific Reports, the investigators used the PubMed, ScienceDirect, and The Cochrane Library databases to identify randomized clinical trials analyzing the efficacy of intraoral laser therapy modalities compared with conventional methods for reducing postoperative pain following primary and secondary root canal treatments in permanent mature teeth.
The investigators found although intraoral laser therapy was not more effective compared with conventional methods, the treatment outperformed placebo four to 72 hours posttreatment. However, within the first eight hours following treatment, low-level laser therapy was noted to improve pain. Slight benefits were also observed in photodynamic therapy and laser disinfection shortly following endodontic treatment but waned long term.
Further studies may be needed to better understand the benefit of laser therapy in patients who received primary and secondary endodontic treatment.
Read more: Scientific Reports
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