[Method of comprehensive physiotherapy of dental patients after COVID-19]

Functional gastrointestinal disorders, which had an impact on the dentofacial system (pain, loose teeth and falling out of them) in patients who have had COVID-19, drew the close attention of specialists of different profiles. The pathogenesis of worsening post-COVID edentulism is insufficiently studied, as many issues of adequate therapy remain unsolved, in which the role of non-drug technologies in the treatment of dental patients who have suffered from COVID-19 is extremely high.

To describe the mechanism of action and clinical effectiveness of the developed combined physiotherapy method, including the induced technique of piracetam iontophoresis on the frontooccipital technic and acupuncture laser therapy in dental patients with complaints of edentulism progression after COVID-19 on the basis of the analysis of single studies on the post-COVID loss of teeth treatment.

A number of patients equal 120 who complained of tooth loss after COVID-19 during the past 6 months were examined. The following initial and end points were considered: dental bleeding and inflammation scores, vascular and endothelial dysfunction markers - levels of intercellular adhesion molecules and their receptors (SlCAM-1, SVCAM-1, VEGF-A, ET-1) before and after treatment.

Negative correlation between VEGF-A (pg/ml) concentration in peripheral blood serum and sVCAM-1 (ng/ml) level in the examined patients (r=0.4830, p<0.05) and strong inverse correlation between slCAM-1 (ng/ml) level and sVCAM-1 (r=0.7696, p<0.01) have been established. More significant effects after application of the combined induced method on the head's structures and laser acupuncture have been noted than after acupuncture laser exposure and after inducing technique separately, namely in the form of dental inflammation score correction by 1.76 times (p<0.001), decrease of bleeding score by 2.6 (p<0.05), decrease of concentration of SVCAM-1 by 1.7 times and SlCAM-1 by 2 times (p<0.001), increase of endothelin level by 1.7 times as well as the initial low VEGF-A (pg/ml) by 1.5 times (p<0.01).

The developed physiotherapeutic complex, which includes laser acupuncture physiotherapy and induced technique of 5% piracetam iontophoresis, can potentially be considered as a physioprophylactic and therapeutic model of post-COVID edentulism.