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Clinical study on the efficacy of LED phototherapy for pain control in an orthodontic procedure

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Abstract

Pain is an unpleasant and emotional subjective sensory experience that occurs during orthodontic procedures. Currently, LED phototherapy is an alternative to the use of laser light as analgesic agent due to similarity of response and lower cost. This case-control, quantitative, qualitative, and longitudinal study aimed to investigate the effect of IR LED phototherapy (λ846 ± 20 nm) in pain during the process of tooth separation during orthodontic treatment. After approval by the Institution Ethics Committee, 40 patients (30 female/10 male, 20–30 years old, average age 24.5 ± 2.6 years old) fulfilling the inclusion criteria entered the study and received a set of four visual analog scales (VAS) for scoring pain immediately, 48 h, 72 h, and 7 days after the insertion of the separating elastics. The patients were randomly distributed into two groups (experimental and control). The patients of experimental group received LED phototherapy (180 mW, 22 s, 4 J, 8 J/cm2, 0.36 W/cm2, spot of 0.5 cm2, spot diameter 0.8 cm) at the same times in which VAS was performed, and control patients were not irradiated. It was found that, in both groups, there was an increase in pain 48 h after insertion of the elastic tooth separator, decreasing 72 h after its installation and reached the lowest level of pain after 7 days. Comparison between groups showed that pain level in the LED group was always statistically significantly lower (p < 0.05), except for the time of installation (T1). The use of LED light was effective in significantly reducing the level of pain after insertion of the elastic tooth separators when compared to the control group.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Prof. José Martins Soares Édimo Center for Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Bahia – UFBA, Av. Araújo Pinho, 62, Canela, Salvador, BA, 40110-150, Brazil

    I. Z. Figueira, A. W Machado, F. A. L. Habib & L. G. P. Soares

  2. Center of Biophotonics, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Bahia – UFBA, Av. Araújo Pinho, 62, Canela, Salvador, BA, 40110-150, Brazil

    A. P. C Sousa, F. A. L. Habib, L. G. P. Soares & A. L. B. Pinheiro

  3. National Institute of Basic Optics and Applied to Life Sciences, Physics Institute of São Carlos, University of São Paulo, Av. Trabalhador São-Carlense, 400, Parque Arnold Schimidt, São Carlos, SP, 13566-590, Brazil

    L. G. P. Soares & A. L. B. Pinheiro

  4. Biomedical Engineering Institute, Universidade Brasil, São Paulo, SP, 08230-030, Brazil

    A. L. B. Pinheiro

Authors
  1. I. Z. Figueira
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  2. A. P. C Sousa
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  3. A. W Machado
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  4. F. A. L. Habib
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  5. L. G. P. Soares
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  6. A. L. B. Pinheiro
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. L. B. Pinheiro.

Ethics declarations

This case-control, quantitative and qualitative, longitudinal study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the School of Dentistry of the Federal University of Bahia (Proc. 34159014.30000.5024).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical statement

The authors hereby confirm that this work followed the Brazilian Resolution CNS 196/96 and was approved by the institution’s Ethics Committee (Proc 34159014.3.0000.524).

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Figueira, I.Z., Sousa, A.P.C., Machado, A.W. et al. Clinical study on the efficacy of LED phototherapy for pain control in an orthodontic procedure. Lasers Med Sci 34, 479–485 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-018-2617-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-018-2617-3

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