Laser therapy applied to orofacial motricity: perception of members of the Brazilian Orofacial Motricity Association - Abramo

Abstract

Purpose: to know the profile of members of the Brazilian Association of Orofacial Motricity and their knowledge and interest on laser therapy in Orofacial Motricity. Methods: an online form was elaborated covering questions about the speech therapist’s profile, training, and acting, as well as his/her knowledge about the theories of laser therapy and its clinical application. The form was sent via e-mail to members of the Brazilian Association of Orofacial Motricity - ABRAMO, registered in the year 2015. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and the Spearman’s correlation test. Results: only 5 (19.2%) out of the 26 participants reported having contact with laser equipment, and of these, only 1 (3.8%) used it in his/her practice. Regarding knowledge of the method, only 2 (7.7%) were trained, and the majority, 14 speech therapists (53.8%), had an interest in acquiring knowledge on this subject. Speech therapists with a longer training period were unaware of laser therapy (p = 0.03) and did not agree on the use (p = 0.01), but claimed to be interested in the subject (p = 0.05). Conclusion: it was possible to verify that the interest in improvement and insertion in the clinical practice in laser therapy are realities for the research volunteers, but a very small number has the knowledge and makes use of the technique in their interventions.

Photobiomodulation in speech-language-hearing therapy: a profile of professional practice and the level of information of Brazilian speech-language-hearing therapists

“…Such an unexpected aspect calls attention to the tendency of greater use of the resource on the part of professionals with greater experience -who commonly prefer traditional techniques, already consecrated by use. This result shows a trend of change in professional preferences and profiles, including good acceptability and use of laser in various sectors of the profession, with different characteristics of those found in a previous study, focused on oral-motor functions 14 .…”

“…Of those who research, their studies are focused on oral-motor control -a tendency already observed in the national and international publications, which mainly involve themes related to this field. Therefore, as presented in a previous study 14 , what is found in the literature regarding LLL applied to SLH therapy is still incipient, calling for broadened scientific research.…”

“…This specific standardization is expected to increase the use of laser, as it potentializes the SLH treatment when associated with other conventional therapies in the field. It is also expected that further research will be conducted to find evidence in SLH clinic [14][15][16] .…”

“…Given the above, it is observed that SLH professionals are interested in increasing the use of this resource in their clinical practice, as they learn the professional norms, seek qualification in the field, and recognize the benefits the technique can offer. The clinical applicability of photobiomodulation can potentialize the gains with SLH intervention, as demonstrated in various studies 3,5,[10][11][12][13][14][15][24][25][26][27] . However, some fields, with few publications, have no studies yet evidencing the effectiveness of using the resource.…”

“…The data, consisting of the answers of the volunteers to the adapted questionnaire, were collected between June and July 2020. It was based on a previous study 14 and had 34 questions -seven open-ended and 27 closed-ended questions -encompassing the SLH therapist's profile, professional education, work, and knowledge of photobiomodulation, as presented in the Appendix.…”