Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26932392›Full record

SynthesisJournal of periodontal research2017

The effectiveness of low-level laser therapy as an adjunct to non-surgical periodontal treatment: a meta-analysis.

C Ren, C McGrath, L Jin, C Zhang, Y Yang

Registry-linked trialAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Journal of periodontal research, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06426550 (Clinical and Microbiological Evaluation of Laser Therapy in the Treatment of Periodontal Disease in Stages III and IV), which is not on this map. Cited by 46 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
46citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT06426550 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2024, after this paper: background citation

Clinical and Microbiological Evaluation of Laser Therapy in the Treatment of Periodontal Disease in Stages III and IV

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversidade Federal FluminenseRan2024 to 2026Enrolled20ConditionsPeriodontitis, Periodontitis, AdultArmsAntimicrobial photodynamic therapy and 0.005% methylene blue (PDT), Photobiomodulation with a red laser (PBM-RL), Saline solution, Photobiomodulation with an infrared laser (PBM-IRL)
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

46 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

C RenFaculty of Dentistry, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
C McGrathFaculty of Dentistry, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
L JinFaculty of Dentistry, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
C ZhangFaculty of Dentistry, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Y YangFaculty of Dentistry, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND

objectivesAlthough low-level laser therapy (LLLT) has been demonstrated to have a biomodulatory effect on periodontal tissue, no systematic review has exclusively addressed its effectiveness as an adjunct to non-surgical periodontal treatment. This study aimed to evaluate whether an additional benefit exists for the application of LLLT compared with scaling and root planing (SRP) alone. MATERIAL AND

methodsAn extensive search was conducted in the Cochrane Library (Issue 8, 2015), PubMed (1997) and EMBASE (1947) before August 2015 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The bias risk was assessed with the Cochrane tool for risk of bias evaluation. A meta-analysis was performed using REVMAN 5.3.

resultsAfter independent screening of 354 initial records, eight publications (seven RCTs) were included. However, six were rated as 'having a high risk of bias' as a result of major methodological weakness in 'allocation concealment' and 'blinding of key personnel'. Meta-analysis showed that LLLT-mediated SRP demonstrated significant short-term benefits over SRP monotherapy in the improvement of the probing pocket depth (p = 0.0009 at 1 mo; p = 0.03 at 2 mo) and the level of interleukin-1β in the gingival crevicular fluid (p = 0.01 at 1 mo). Nevertheless, LLLT failed to show significant additional intermediate-term (3 and 6 mo) effects in terms of clinical parameters and alveolar bone density.

conclusionThese findings indicated that LLLT showed only short-term additional benefits after conventional SRP. Its long-term effects remain unclear due to substantial methodological weaknesses and an insufficient number of current studies. Future RCTs with better designs and longer follow-up periods are required to assess the effectiveness of LLLT as an adjunctive treatment strategy in patients with periodontal disease.

Indexed as

Combined Modality TherapyDental ScalingHumansLow-Level Light TherapyPeriodontitisRoot Planingchronic periodontitislow-level laser therapynon-surgical periodontal treatmentsystematic review

Identifiers

PMID26932392
PMCPMC5297978

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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.