Abstract
Introduction
Pain is the most common sequela reported by patients undergoing orthodontic treatment. It is a prime concern as despite the desire, the orthodontic treatment is refuted by most patients because of the associated pain and discomfort. Recently, there is an abundance of research going on in the field of orthodontics regarding the causes of orthodontic pain and the measures that could efficiently reduce it. One such method is the administration of lasers to reduce the intensity of pain. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the effect of low-level laser therapy on spontaneous pain and pain on chewing caused by elastomeric separators.
Method
Forty patients were randomly selected for this single-blind, split-mouth study. Elastomeric separators were placed mesial and distal to the permanent first molars in all the four quadrants. The arches were divided into experimental and control sides. The experimental side was treated with low-level laser therapy on two points on the buccal and lingual mucosa for 20 s each, with a 940-nm gallium-aluminum-arsenic diode laser on continuous mode and power set at 200 mW. The other side received placebo laser therapy without turning on the laser. A visual analogue scale was used to assess the intensity of spontaneous pain and pain on chewing, and the subjects were asked to mark the pain scores in a questionnaire given to them at different time intervals. The independent samples t test and analysis of variance with the post hoc Tukey test was used to analyze the results.
Results
The subjects reported less intensity of pain on chewing as well as spontaneous pain at the sites which were given low-level laser therapy as compared to the placebo side. The difference between the pain intensity on the low-level laser therapy side and placebo side was found to be statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05).
Conclusion
A single dose of low-level laser therapy is an effective modality in significantly reducing the intensity of both spontaneous and pain on chewing caused after the placement of elastomeric separators.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Turhani D, Scheriau M, Kapral D, Benesch T, Jonke E, Bantleon HP (2006) Pain relief by single low-level laser irradiation in orthodontic patients undergoing fixed appliance therapy. Am J Orthod Dentofac Orthop 130:371–377
Deshpande P, Patil K, Mahima VG, Shivalinga BM, Suchetha M, Ranjan A (2016) Low-level laser therapy for alleviation of pain from fixed orthodontic appliance therapy: a randomized controlled trial. J Adv Clin Res Insights 3:43–46
Abtahi SM, Mousavi SA, Shafaee H, Tanbakuchi B (2013) Effect of low-level laser therapy on dental pain induced by separator force in orthodontic treatment. Dent Res J 10:647–651
Shi Q, Yang S, Jia F, Xu J (2015) Does low level laser therapy relieve the pain caused by the placement of the orthodontic separators? A meta-analysis. Head Face Med 11(1):28
Bergius M, Kiliaridis S, Berggren U (2000) Pain in orthodontics. A review and discussion of the literature. J Orofac Orthop 61(2):125–137
Qamruddin I, Alam MK, Fida M, Khan AG (2016) Effect of a single dose of low-level laser therapy on spontaneous and chewing pain caused by elastomeric separators. Am J Orthod Dentofac Orthop 149(1):62–66
Scheurer PA, Firestone AR, Burgin WB (1996) Perception of pain as a result of orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances. Eur J Orthod 18:349–357
Ngan P, Kess B, Wilson S (1989) Perception of discomfort by patients undergoing orthodontic treatment. Am J Orthod Dentofac Orthop 96:47–53
Mester E, Szende B (1967) Influence of laser on hair growth of mice. Kiserl Orvostud 19:628–631
Oltra-Arimon D, Spain-Tost AJ, Berini-Aytés L, Gay-Escoda C (2004) Low-power laser applications in dentistry. RCOE 9(5):517–524
Eslamian L, Borzabadi-Farahani A, Hassanzadeh-Azhiri A, Badiee MR, Fekrazad R. The effect of 810-nm low-level laser therapy on pain caused by orthodontic elastomeric separators. Lasers Med Sci 2014;29:559–564. 22
Marini I, Bartolucci ML, Bortolotti F, Innocenti G, Gatto MR, Bonetti GA (2015) The effect of diode superpulsed low-level laser therapy on experimental orthodontic pain caused by elastomeric separators: a randomized controlled clinical trial. Lasers Med Sci 30:35–41
Farias RD, Closs LQ, Miguens SAQ Jr (2016) Evaluation of the use of low-level laser therapy in pain control in orthodontic patients: a randomized split-mouth clinical trial. Angle Orthod 86(2):193–198
Lim HM, Lew KK, Tay DK (1995) A clinical investigation of the efficacy of low level laser therapy in reducing orthodontic post adjustment pain. Am J Orthod Dentofac Orthop 108:614–622
Zawawi KH (2014) Acceptance of orthodontic miniscrews as temporary anchorage devices. Patient Prefer Adherence 30(8):933–937
Farivar S, Malekshahabi T, Shiari R (2014) Biological effects of low level laser therapy. J Lasers Med Sci 5(2):58–62
Doshi-Mehta G, Bhad-Patil WA (2012 Mar 31) Efficacy of low-intensity laser therapy in reducing treatment time and orthodontic pain: a clinical investigation. Am J Orthod Dentofac Orthop 141(3):289–297
Rosas S, Paço M, Lemos C, Pinho T (2017) Comparison between the Visual Analog Scale and the Numerical Rating Scale in the perception of esthetics and pain. Int Orthod 15(4):543–560
Chow R, Armati P, Laakso EL, Bjordal JM, Baxter GD (2011) Inhibitory effects of laser irradiation on peripheral mammalian nerves and relevance to analgesic effects: a systematic review. Photomed Laser Surg 29(6):356–381
Laakso EL, Cabot PJ (2005) Nociceptive scores and endorphin-containing cells reduced by low-level laser therapy (LLLT) in inflamed paws of Wistar rat. Photomed Laser Surg 23(1):32–35
Asiry MA, Albarakati SF, Al-Marwan MS, Al-Shammari RR (2014) Perception of pain and discomfort from elastomeric separators in Saudi adolescents. Saudi Med J 35:504–507
Kapoor P, Singh H, Ghai GS, Ghai GK (2013) Perception of pain and discomfort from three types of orthodontic separators. Indian J Dent Sci 5:9–13
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
The study was approved by the institutional ethical committee.
Conflict of interest
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gupta, S., Ahuja, S., Bhambri, E. et al. Evaluating the effect of low-level laser therapy on pain induced by orthodontic separation: a randomized split-mouth clinical trial. Laser Dent Sci 2, 221–228 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41547-018-0040-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41547-018-0040-5