Low level laser therapy in the treatment of temporomandibular disorders (TMD): a double-blind pilot study

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the efficacy of a Low-Level Laser therapy in patients with Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD) using a double-blind design. A sample of 20 patients with a chief complaint of pain was divided into myogenous and arthrogenous groups. The sample was also divided on the basis of the treatment rendered: real versus placebo treatment. An 830 nm Ga-Al-As Laser device with a energy power of 4 joules was used (OMNILASE, LASERDYNE PTY LTD.) in three treatment sessions. To evaluate the effectiveness of laser treatment, a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used for pain and active range of motion (AROM) was used to measure changes in mandibular function. Using real laser treatment, the author found that there was a reported improvement in pain only for the myogenous pain patients (p < or = 0.02). For the arthrogenous pain patients, real laser treatment resulted in an improvement in Total Vertical Opening (TVO) (p < 0.05), Protrusive excursion (PROT) (p < 0.02) and Left lateral excursion (LATLEF) (p < 0.02). The placebo control group showed improvement in TVO and PROT for those patients having myogenous pain and LATLEF for those patients having arthrogenous pain. A repeated measurement one-way ANOVA demonstrated no significant differences between real and placebo groups. Considering the non-invasive and harmless characteristics of this modality, more research is recommended, using higher power and increased frequency of laser applications.