Effect of 970\xa0nm low-level laser therapy on orthodontic tooth movement during Class II intermaxillary elastics treatment: a RCT

Bénédicte Pérignon,Madline Cuny-Houchmand,Assem Soueidan,Morgane Peré,Octave Nadile Bandiaky,Stéphane Renaudin,Zahi Badran,Caroline Fromont-Colson

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-02610-7

Bénédicte Pérignon, Madline Cuny-Houchmand + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02610-7

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Abstract

This prospective randomized clinical trial aimed to evaluate the effect of low-level laser therapy on tooth movement during Class II intermaxillary elastics treatment. Forty-two patients with Class II malocclusion were included, and their maxillary quadrants were allocated into two groups: treatment with an active diode laser and a placebo group. In each group, the time taken to obtain Class I occlusion after 6 months, rate of movement, total displacement of the maxillary canine to Class I occlusion and pain were recorded. The time to reach Class I occlusion in the active laser group (2.46 ± 2.1 months) was not significantly different from that in the placebo group (2.48 ± 2.0 months) (p = 0.938). Interestingly, the total distance of movement on the active laser side (2.27 ± 1.5 mm) was significantly greater than that on the placebo side (1.64 ± 1.3 mm) (p = 0.009). The pain levels on days 1, 2 and 3 were not significantly different between the laser and placebo sections. The rate of distance change toward Class I occlusion in the laser group (1.1 ± 0.7 mm/month) was significantly higher than that in the placebo group (0.74 ± 0.6 mm/month) (p = 0.037). Low-level laser therapy (970 nm) did not reduce the time needed to obtain Class I occlusion, but a significant acceleration in tooth movement was observed in the irradiated group.Trial registration: NCT02181439. Registered 04 July 2014—https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=cinelaser.

Highlights

This prospective randomized clinical trial aimed to evaluate the effect of low-level laser therapy on tooth movement during Class II intermaxillary elastics treatment
Due to its biomodulatory action that stimulates the mechanisms of tissue remodeling, the low-level diode laser technique has been shown to be a promising noninvasive approach to accelerating tooth movement during orthodontic treatments[6,7,8,9,10]
Previous studies have been conducted with lower wavelengths[16], and treatments with higher wavelengths applied during low-level laser therapy (LLLT), which goes up to 980 nm, have not been well studied

Summary

Introduction

This prospective randomized clinical trial aimed to evaluate the effect of low-level laser therapy on tooth movement during Class II intermaxillary elastics treatment. The time to reach Class I occlusion in the active laser group (2.46 ± 2.1 months) was not significantly different from that in the placebo group (2.48 ± 2.0 months) (p = 0.938). Low-level laser therapy (970 nm) did not reduce the time needed to obtain Class I occlusion, but a significant acceleration in tooth movement was observed in the irradiated group. Many studies have investigated various ways to accelerate orthodontic tooth movement, including the piezocision technique, corticotomy, photobiomodulation, low-level laser therapy, electric stimulation, pulsed electromagnetic fields, and mechanical and physical methods[2,3,4,5]. Recent studies on rats have shown encouraging results at these settings; a wavelength of 970 allows deep penetration through soft tissue to reach alveolar bone and the periodontal ligament[17]

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