Laser therapy for neurosensory recovery after saggital split ramus oseotomy

Abstract

Dental-skeletal anomalies are treated by combining orthodontic treatment with orthognathic surgery. This mainly involves performing sagittal osteotomy of the mandibular branch. This technique offers many advantages, but its main disadvantage is paraesthesia of the inferior alveolar nerve. There are several treatments focused on promoting neurological recovery, one of which is low intensity laser. The aim of this study was to make a clinical evaluation of the efficacy of low intensity laser therapy in the neurosensory recovery of tissues after sagittal osteotomy of the mandible.A group of twelve patients with the need of surgical correction of their dental-skeletal anomaly underwent orthognathic surgery with bilateral mandibular sagittal osteotomy. Patients were treated unilaterally and blinded with a low intensity infrared GaAlAs laser of 808nm, and compared with the contralateral site as a control group, following the course of the inferior dental nerve. The parameters used were of 100mW of power, irradiation of 3.6W/cm2, 2.8J of energy per point, an energy density of 100J/cm2, to 28s in each point with a distance of 1cm between points. The treatment included two sessions per week with a minimum of 10 sessions, starting 48h after surgery. Mechanical and thermal evaluations were performed in the first, fourth, seventh and tenth sessions. A significant improvement was observed in the subjective response of the patients on the treated side. The treatment of neurosensory disorders with low-intensity infrared laser has been shown to be effective in accelerating recovery, providing greater patient comfort, and presenting advantages over other existing methods.