PMID:
Lasers Med Sci. 2019 Jul 19. Epub 2019 Jul 19. PMID: 31325124
Abstract Title:
The impact of photobiomodulation of major salivary glands on caries risk.
Abstract:
Dental caries is a complex multifactorial chronic infectious disease guided by several risk or protective factors. Saliva has an important role in caries and the remineralization process. Caries risk assessment is defined as the probability of new caries lesion development or the existing lesion progression in a given time period. Caries diagnostics and risk factor assessment are followed by targeted elimination of risk factors and less conservative but abundant preventive therapeutic measures. The aim of our prospective randomized study was to elucidate on how photobiomodulation of major salivary glands with polychromatic light or LED light affects caries risk factors in high caries-risk patients. Thirty-six patients were assigned to one of the following three experimental groups: the first, irradiated with polarized polychromatic light (40 mW/cm, wavelengths 480-3400 nm); the second, a continuous LED light (16 mW/cm, wavelengths 625, 660, 850 nm); the third, same LED light in a pulsed mode. The fourth group was the control, for which a non-therapeutic visible light was used. Light was administered extra-orally bilaterally above the parotid and submandibular glands for 10 min and intra-orally above the sublingual glands for 5 min, 3 times a week, for 4 consecutive weeks. Each patient's caries risk was assessed according to Cariogram before and after therapy. Caries risk factors were determined from samples of saliva before therapy, two weeks after it commenced, at the end of therapy, and four weeks after the end of therapy. At the end of treatment, the following findings were obtained: In the group irradiated with polarized polychromatic light and in the group irradiated with continuous LED light, the Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus counts decreased and salivary buffering capacity increased (p
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