Evaluation of socket healing in irradiated rats after diode laser exposure (histological and morphometric studies)

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) in enhancing bone repair in irradiated sockets of albino rats.

Thirty male Swiss Albino rats ranging from 120 to 150 g were used in this study. The animals were subjected 6 gray gamma radiations. Three days post irradiation, right and left mandibular first molars were extracted. The sockets of the left sides were irradiated by (GaAIAs) diode laser device immediately after extraction, while the sockets of the right side were not exposed to the laser and served as control. The rats were randomly assigned into three groups (10 rats each) according to the date of sacrifice, 3, 7 and 10 days into groups I, II and III, respectively. The two sides of each mandible were separated. Each group was further subdivided into subgroups A and B (10 specimens each), where A represents the right side of the mandible and B represents the left side. The specimens were stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and Masson's trichrome.

LLLT accelerated bone healing, while, radiotherapy induced delay of bone healing along the three experimental groups. This acceleration was assessed histologically by the presence of mature collagen fibre bundles and early new bone formation in the lased groups. Histomorphometric analysis revealed an increase in the area percentage of bone trabeculae in the lased sockets compared to the control ones in group II. This increase was statistically significant (p = 0.0274). The increase in the area percentage of bone trabeculae between the lased and control sockets of group III was statistically insignificant (p = 0.1903).

In a rat model application of LLLT with a GaAIAs diode laser device can enhance bone healing and mineralisation in sockets subjected to gamma radiation.