Effects of Diode Low-Level Laser Therapy of 810 Nm on Pulpal Anesthesia of Maxillary Premolars: A Double-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the pulpal effect of diode low-level laser therapy (LLLT) of 810 nm on the alleviation of pain in patients requiring dental procedures. METHODS: The current study was a double-blind randomized clinical trial carried out on twenty participants. The electric pulp testing (EPT) was recorded at baseline. Patients were randomly divided into sham laser and laser group respectively receiving low-level laser with placebo and active probes. Low-level laser at 810 nm, 200 MW constant power, 30s irradiation time and energy dose of 6 J was used. The electric pulp testing (EPT) method was again adopted to assess the rate of induced anesthesia. Laser and sham laser treatments were carried out in two different sessions with a one-week interval to ensure avoiding the potential false placebo results. Data were analyzed in SSPS-24 using Chi-square test and t-test. The p-value was set at 0.05. RESULTS: A low-level laser at 810 nm significantly alleviate EPT-induced pain compared to the pain before laser irradiation (P≤0.001). While the difference of EPT-induced pain before and after sham laser irradiation was not significant in control group (P>0.05). There was no correlation between the anesthetic effects of a laser application at 810 nm and other variables including age and gender (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: An 810 nm low-level laser is a powerful device for induced anesthesia applications in patients requiring dental procedures. It also lessens the patients’ fear of dental procedures.