Effect of Low-power Laser on Treatment of Orofacial Pain

Low-power lasers are a group of lasers with a power less than 250 mW and unlike high-power lasers they have no effect on tissue temperature; they produce light-dependent chemical reactions in tissues. These lasers have analgesic features with their ability to trigger reactions that reduce pain and inflammatory mediators. Low-power lasers can also be used instead of needles in acupuncture to decrease pain. Due to these features they have been used in the treatment of orofacial pain, includ-ing tooth hypersensitivity, post-operative flare-ups, mucositis, facial myalgia, temporomandibular joint disorders and neu-ralgia. In this article we review the effects of low-power lasers and their success rate in different studies. As the name im-plies (LASER: Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation), laser amplifies light by stimulated and ex-cited radiation; in other words, it is amplification of excited light emission. Such radiation usually has some characteristic features, including mono-chromaticity, coherency, high intensity and polarity. There are various classifications for lasers based on their active material (solid, fluid and gas), wavelength, emission type and power.