Efficacy of adjunctive laser in non-surgical periodontal treatment: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

To evaluate the efficacy of the adjunctive laser therapy in conventional non-surgical treatment of chronic periodontitis, an electronic search was performed through the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and China Biology Medicine (CBM) Disc, for relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi-RCTs. All the 12 included studies (11 RCTs and 1 quasi-RCT) were qualified for descriptive and quantitative analysis. Outcomes were divided into two groups according to the length of follow-ups (long term and short term). Subgroup analyses were performed based on the mode of laser (inside and outside mode). Among all included researches, reduction in probing depth (PD) and gain in clinical attachment level (CAL) were presented with the mean value and 95 % confidence interval, while bleeding on probing (BOP) was assessed descriptively. Meta-analysis suggested that adjunctive laser therapy reduced PD at 3 months [mean difference (MD) = -0.26, 95 % confidence interval (CI) range = -0.43 to -0.09, p = 0.003] but did not demonstrate significant effect on the CAL at either 3 months (MD = -0.03, 95 % CI range = -0.25 to 0.19, p = 0.79) or 6 months (MD = -0.11, 95 % CI range = -0.38 to 0.16, p = 0.43). Subgroup analyses indicated that laser therapy would be more effective when the probes were set up outside the periodontal pockets.

Efficacy of low-level laser therapy for accelerating tooth movement during orthodontic treatment: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

This review aimed to evaluate the efficacy of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) for accelerating tooth movement during orthodontic treatment. An extensive electronic search was conducted by two reviewers. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-RCTs concerning the efficacy of LLLT for accelerating tooth movement during orthodontic treatment were searched in CENTRAL, Medline, PubMed, Embase, China Biology Medicine Disc (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Google Scholar. Six RCTs and three quasi-RCTs, involving 211 patients from six countries, were selected from 173 relevant studies. All nine articles were feasible for the systematic review and meta-analysis, five of which were assessed as moderate risk of bias, while the rest were assessed as high risk of bias. The mean difference and the 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI) of accumulative moved distance of teeth were observed among all the researches. The results showed that the LLLT could accelerate orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) in 7 days (mean difference 0.19, 95 % CI [0.02, 0.37], p = 0.03) and 2 months (mean difference 1.08, 95 % CI [0.16, 2.01], p = 0.02). Moreover, a relatively lower energy density (5 and 8 J/cm(2)) was seemingly more effective than 20 and 25 J/cm(2) and even higher ones.