Efficacy Of He-Ne Laser Treatment on Postoperative Pain, Edema and Wound Healing After Third Molar Surgery

                                   ABSTRACT

The surgical removal of impacted third molars result in some complications such as pain, edema. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of He-Ne laser on pain, edema and wound healing compared with that a placebo.

A total number of 20 patients (15 female, 5 male) aged between 19-24 years requiring bilateral and symmetrically impacted third molar surgical operation were included in this study.

After removing the bilateral, symmetrically impacted third molars in the same operation, He-Ne laser application was done one side and the other side placebo was applicated. He-Ne laser with 30 mW power and 658 nm wavelength has been applied to the wound surface at a right angle from a distance of 2 mm and with a total energy amount of 4 j/cm².

The evaluation of the values were conducted by using VAS for pain and facial measures for edeme. In order to follow the healing process, digital images of the operation sites were taken under standardized conditions on preoperative and postoperative days 2, 7, 10, 15, 21 and 30 and digital color seperation technique was performed for images.

As a result of statistical analysis of the data, no statistical differences were observed on pain and edema between two groups (p>0.05), however significant statistical differences were observed on wound healing on 7., 10., 15., 21. and 30. days. (p<0.05)

According to the results of this study He- Ne laser application can be an alternative, safety preferable technique in the third molar surgery.