Low Intensity laser therapy in patients with burning mouth syndrome: a randomized, placebo-controlled study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of low intensity laser therapy in patients with Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS). Thirty BMS subjects were randomized into two groups -Laser (LG) and Placebo (CG). Seven patients dropped out, leaving 13 patients in LG and 10 patients in CG. Each patient received 4 irradiations (laser or placebo) twice a week, for two consecutive weeks (blinded to the type of irradiation received). Infrared laser (AsGaAI) irradiations were applied to the affected mucosa in scanning mode, wavelength of 790 nm, output power of 20 mW and fluence of 6 J/cm 2 . A visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to assess the therapeutic effect before and after each irradiation, and at all the control time periods: 7, 14, 30, 60 and 90 days after the last irradiation. One researcher delivered irradiation and another recorded the results. Both researchers were blinded, the first to the results, and the second to the type of radiation applied. The results were categorized according to the percentage of symptom level variation, and showed a statistically better response in LG in only two categories of the control checkpoints (p=0.02; Fisher's Exact Test). According to the protocol used in this study, low intensity laser therapy is as beneficial to patients with BMS as placebo treatment, indicating a great emotional component of involvement in BMS symptomatology. Nevertheless, there were positive results in some statistical analyses, thus encouraging further research in BMS laser therapy with other irradiation parameters.

Salivary Cortisol Levels and Burning Symptoms in Patients with Burning Mouth Syndrome before and after Low Level Laser Therapy: a Double Blind Controlled Randomized Clinical Trial

“…Al-Maweri et al (18) made a systemic meta-analysis of the published literature on BMS and LLLT and included results of five randomized clinical trials (16,(19)(20)(21)(22), three uncontrolled clinical trials (23)(24)(25) and two case series (26,27). Sugaya et al (19) have found that LLLT has the same effect as placebo in BMS patients. Pezelj-Ribaric et al (22) did not find any significant reductions of VAS scores after LLLT.…”

World Workshop on Oral Medicine VII: Burning mouth syndrome: A systematic review of disease definitions and diagnostic criteria utilized in randomized clinical trials

“…The definitions used also varied in their requirements with respect to anatomic site, quality and duration of pain, as well as accompanying features. Of the 36 RCTs, 26 used a consensus definition, or one that resembled a consensus definition, as a tool for case identification (Table ), while ten did not (Bergdahl, Anneroth, & Perris, ; Bessho, Okubo, Hori, Murakami, & Iizuka, ; Femiano, Gombos, & Scully, ; Femiano, Gombos, Scully, Busciolano, & De Luca, ; Heckmann, Kirchner, Grushka, Wichmann, & Hummel, ; López‐Dalessandro & Escovich, ; de Rivera, Campillo, Lopez‐Lopez, & Chimenos‐Kustner, ; Sugaya et al., ; Toida et al., ; Treldal et al., ).…”

World Workshop in Oral Medicine VII: Reporting of IMMPACT‐recommended outcome domains in randomized controlled trials of burning mouth syndrome: A systematic review

“…Reporting of pain size based on the Turk et al, recommendation was limited to one RCT only (Sugaya et al, ). However, this RCT was not considered to have fulfilled this subdomain due to the lack of reporting of “pain size” in follow‐ups.…”

“…The direct need to evaluate pain intensity, as part of treatment outcomes assessment, and the simplicity of use of this scale helps ex- Reporting of pain size based on the Turk et al, 2003 recommen-dation was limited to one RCT only (Sugaya et al, 2016). However, this RCT was not considered to have fulfilled this subdomain due to the lack of reporting of "pain size" in follow-ups.…”