Treatment of dentin hypersensitivity with laser: systematic review

Abstract

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: hypersensitivity is an exacerbated response to a stimulus, causing acute and short-term pain. Over the years, several treatments for dentin hypersensitivity have emerged, including laser therapy. Thus, the objective of this work was to carry out a review about the available devices and the existing procedures of laser therapy in the treatment of dentin hypersensitivity. CONTENTS: A systematic review of studies published from 2016 to 2020 was carried out through bibliographic search in the electronic databases Pubmed and the Biblioteca Virtual em Saude - (Virtual Health Library), using the following descriptors: Laser And Dentin Hypersensitivity. Of the total of 51 articles found in the search, 14 were eligible for a review. There was an evaluation of the possible risks of bias for each of the articles included. CONCLUSION: As a result, a variety of devices available on the market and different protocols that prove to be effective for the treatment of dentin hypersensitivity when compared to the initial pain situation (baseline) were found. When laser treatment is compared with other existing therapies, it's not so clear which would be the most effective, due to the wide variety of study methodologies. However, an association of therapies that act in the two mechanisms of pain interception (neural and blocker) seems to be an appropriate conduct in the control of dentin hypersensitivity, and this combination can happen through physical methods (High and low intensity laser) and chemical (neural and blocker agents).