Effect of Photobiomodulation Therapy on Inferior Alveolar and Lingual Nerve Injuries After Dental Procedures

Abstract

Objective:The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy on neurosensory recovery of inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) and lingual nerve (LN) injuries. Background:PBM has favorable stimulating and therapeutic effects in the living tissues, and promotes neuron maturation and regeneration in injured nerves. Methods:Fifty patients with the neurosensory deficit of IAN and/or LN, developed as a consequence of dental or oral and maxillofacial surgery procedures enrolled in this study. Paresthesia of the patients was confirmed by subjective and objective neurosensory tests. Subjective evaluation was done by rating the patient's numbness by visual analog scale (VAS) from 0 (normal) to 10 (most severely affected). Objective neurosensory assessment was done by two-point discrimination, thermal stimuli, light touch, and pinprick tests. All patients were treated with PBM (830 nm, 70 mW) three times a week for 10-16 sessions. Subjective and objective evaluations were done before and after treatment. Statistical analysis was performed by single sample Kolmogrov-Smirnov test for normality and the Levene test for homogeneity and the data examined by two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) (alpha = 0.05). Results:This study included 50 patients, between 18 and 67 years of age, with a mean of 38 years (standard deviation = 15.1). The causes of the neurosensory deficiencies were removal of impacted third molar (54%) and other dental procedures (46%). There was a significant decrease on VAS scores in neurosensory deficit (p = 0.0) and the objective test total scores were significantly higher after the treatment (p = 0.0). Conclusions:It might be concluded that PBM treatment can provide subjective and objective improvements in long or/and short-term neurosensory deficits and can be used as a noninvasive treatment method.