Background and aims: To present incidental findings in patients with low back pain (LBP) who received photobiomodulation (PBM) administered to the back and thighs as an adjunct to physical therapy (PT) and then experienced improvement in concurrent depression.
Materials and methods: Five outpatients with LBP and concurrent self-reported depression were treated for LBP over five weeks with PT (5-sessions) and concurrent PBM (final 3-sessions), and retrospectively matched to five control patients treated with PT alone (5-sessions). The PBM device emitted light at 850nm and 660 nm with an irradiance of 100 mW/cm² and fluence of 3 J/cm² on 12 symmetrical posterior sites (thoracic, lumbar and thighs) for 30 sec/site.
Results: Both groups had non-significant differences in all baseline scores, except for higher functional status (ARGS) in the PBM-group (33.6 ± 12.2 vs.18.6 ± 3.6, t(8) = 2.638, p= 0.030). After treatment, the mean decrease in depression scores (OMSQ-12 item #6) was significantly larger in the PBM-group (43.0 ± 22.0 vs. 8.0 ± 5.7, t(8) = 3.449,p = 0.009). Improvement in functional status (ARGS) in the PBM-group was similar to that in the controls (42.0 ± 13.5 vs. 43.4 ± 11.1, t(8) = 0.179, p = 0.862), suggesting group differences in antidepressant effect were independent of functional status improvement.
Conclusions: This preliminary investigation suggests that an antidepressant effect may result from PBM to the back and thighs in patients with LBP and concurrent depression.

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Purpose: The aim of this umbrella review is to determine the effectiveness of LLLT in the treatment of LET and to provide recommendations based on this evidence.
Methods: A comprehensive and systematic review was undertaken using Medline, EBSCO and EMBASE. Systematic reviews or meta-analysis were included if they compared Laser with at least one of the following: (i) placebo, (ii) no treatment, (iii) another treatment, conservative (physical therapy intervention or medical) or operative of LET. Principal outcomes included the assessment of short and long-term effect on functional status, pain, grip strength (pain-free or maximum) and a global measure (overall improvement).
Results: Seven papers met the inclusion criteria for the umbrella review, Five papers were of moderate and two of low methodological quality. All reviews reported benefits associated with laser therapy Vs other intervention or placebo, however the significance of the identified benefits differed between studies and reviews. No review reported negative effects of laser therapy or harm to patients. All reviews noted significant variance between included studies with 2 reviews citing statistically significant heterogeneity. It is essential to consider this in the interpretation of these data.
Conclusion: This umbrella review found poor results for the effectiveness of LLLT in the management of LET. Therefore, further research with well-designed RCTs is required to provide meaningful evidence on the effectiveness (absolute and relative) of LLLT for the management of LET.

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Background and aims: The aim of this investigation was to evaluate clinical and radiographic effects of diode laser pulpotomy on young human primary molars.
Materials and methods:This double-blind, split-mouth randomized clinical trial was conducted on 14 children, aged 3-9 years. In total, 20 pairs of teeth were selected from those with pulpal exposure due to caries. Case selection was conducted based on clinical and radiographic criteria with similar teeth in each patient. One tooth was randomly assigned to diode laser pulpotomy as case and the other tooth was pulp-treated using formocresol as control. Diode laser at a 10-W power was applied on the remaining pulp tissue following coronal pulp amputation in the case group, while a cotton pellet with diluted formocresol was placed over the amputated pulp in the control group. Reinforced zinc oxide-eugenol paste was then placed over the pulp stump and the tooth was restored with stainless steel crown. A 6- and 12-month followed-up was conducted clinically and radiographically in order to assess the success rates. Data were analyzed with Fisher's exact test.
Results: Clinical failure rate was almost zero when the cases were followed and examined clinically (100% success), with 95% and 90% of the cases in the case group (diode laser) being judged as successful in radiographic examination after 6 and 12 months, respectively. Cases in the control group (formocresol) had almost the same clinical success rate (100%) with no failure judged by radiographic evaluation at 6 and 12 months. These results did not show any significant differences when analyzed using Fisher’s exact test (P›0.05).
Conclusions: There was no significant difference between diode laser pulpotomy and formocresol pulpotomy of human primary teeth after 6 and 12 months. Only a fraction of cases (5%) had radiographic problems at their follow-up in the laser group.

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Background and aims: The long duration of orthodontic treatment is a major patients’ concern. A noninvasive
method of accelerating tooth movement in a physiological manner is needed. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of Er:YAG laser application during orthodontic treatment of deep bite and to evaluate its analgesic effect during that movement.
Materials and methods: A prospective randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT) was performed on 30 patients with deep bite. Sample was divided into two groups: (A), 15 patients (orthodontic treatment -control group) and (B), 15 patients (orthodontic treatment and Er:YAG Laser - laser group). The tooth movement was evaluated as the primary outcome variable by measuring angular and linear changes on three progress lateral cephalometeric radiographs (T1, T2 and T3); Lateral cephalograms were taken before treatment (T1), immediately after finishing the stage of leveling and alignment (T2) and after completion of the intrusion stage (T3). Laser parameters were 400 mJ/10 Hz/4 W and 400 mJ/15 Hz/6 W, depending on the handpiece used. The levels of pain and discomfort were evaluated and ranked according to a visual analog scale. Paired t-tests or Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank tests were used to detect significant differences.
Results: The main findings of the treatment were (1) significant positive difference in the rates of tooth intrusion movement on the experimental group compared with the control group at the baseline to T2 and T3 interval and the tooth movement rate was approximately 3 times faster in the experimental group. (2) The pain score in the experimental group was significantly lower compared with the control group on day 3 as on day 7.
Conclusions: The application of Er:YAG laser is an effective mean to speed orthodontic tooth movement with a significant reduction in pain and discomfort after application.

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Background and aims: The Aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Diode laser and Er,Cr:YSGG laser ablation on the treatment of physiologic gingival melanin hyperpigmentation.
Materials and methods: This research design was split mouth, double blind, and clinical trial. The power of the diode laser was set at 1 W, fiber 320 μ irradiation mode: continuous-wave with treatment mode of contact tip and Er,Cr:YSGG laser (2780 nm) was set at 100 MJ, frequency of 15 Hz, total power of 1.75 W, 10% water and 20% air. Bleeding, pain, healing, Dummett oral pigmentation index (DOPI) and Hedin melanin score changes and repigmentation were assessed. Patients were followed for 6 months.
Results: A total number of 14 patients were involved in this study. There were statistically significant differences in reduction of DOPI and Hedin melanin score in each treatment groups separately while diode laser group had better results (P<0.0001). There was no statistically significant difference between groups in terms of repigmentation. There was more pain in diode laser group (P< 0.0001) and there was more bleeding in Er,Cr:YSGG laser group (P = 0.0156). Gingival healing was more in Er,Cr:YSGG laser group (P<0.0001).
Conclusion: Diode laser had more efficiency for reduction of DOPI and Hedin melanin index scores.

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Background: laser aided debonding of ceramic brackets has been proved to be effective in reducing enamel surface damages, though the optimal parameters of laser to be chose is in question. The aim of this study was to investigate the six different regimens of diode laser irradiation on enamel surface characteristics and intrapulpal temperature changes while debonding.
Material and Methods: 90 polycrystalline brackets were bonded to 90 intact extracted premolars. At debonding, teeth were divided into 6 groups (n = 15) and were subjected to the following regimen of diode laser irradiation; G1 = 2 W, continuous wave, G2 = 2.5 W, continuous wave, G3 = 3 W, continuous wave, G4 = 2 W, pulsed mode, G5 = 2.5 W, pulsed mode, G6 = 3 W, pulsed mode. After debonding, the adhesive remnant index, the lengths and frequency of enamel cracks were compared among the groups. 5 teeth out of 15 were randomly selected from each group to assess the intrapulpal temperature changes.
Results: The number of enamel cracks increased significantly in all the specimens after debonding. Enamel crack length increased significantly in all the study groups except G3 and G6. The increase in intrapulpal temperature was significantly below the benchmark of 5.5 C for all the specimens. Significant difference was observed in adhesive remnant index scores among the groups and more than half of the teeth showed a score of 2.
Conclusion: Diode-laser irradiation in pulsed mode or continuous wave at given outputs (2, 2.5, 3 W) were not statistically different in regard to producing enamel surface damages or increasing intrapulpal temperature.

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Backgroud and aims: There are very few studies on laser phototherapy (LPT) in acute temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). Our objective is to assess the effectiveness of laser phototherapy (LPT) on the limitation of the mouth opening due to an acute mandibular trauma.
Subjects and methods: Fourteen women of 41 ± 3 years and 24 men of 38 ± 3 years, with no history of TMD and having sustained a mandibular trauma within the prior 20 hours, were treated exclusively by using an 810-nm laser beam in a continuous wave mode, with an output power of 1 W. At a speed of 2 cm/s, it scanned twice, for 60 seconds, with a pause in between of 2 minutes, a large cutaneous area (25 cm²), covering the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), the masseter muscle and a part of the temporalis fossa; also, it scanned just once, for 7 seconds, a small mucous area (3 cm²), covering the internal pterygoid muscle. The clinical outcomes were evaluated by comparing the maximum unassisted opening (MUO), measured at the baseline and immediately after the end of the LPT procedure.
Results: The MUO improvement of 24.6 ± 4.4 mm represented a highly significant difference (p<.0001) between the measurements, in all the patients, regardless of gender.
Conclusions: By scanning with an 810-nm laser beam, within less than 20 hours after the trauma, large areas of all the involved tissues and not just a few points, as described until now, the limited mouth opening in acute posttraumatic trismus was immediately and greatly resolved.

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