Effect of photodynamic and laser therapy in the treatment of peri-implant mucositis: A systematic review

Abstract

Background: The present study systematically reviewed the literature to investigate the effect of photodynamic therapy (PDT) or laser therapy (LT) in the management of peri-implant mucositis (p-iM).

Methods: The electronic databases were searched until October 2017. Outcome measures were bleeding on probing (BOP), plaque index (PI), or probing depth (PD). The addressed PICO question was: "Is PDT and LT effective in the management of p-iM?"

Results: A total of five studies included in the qualitative analysis, two of which had a low risk of bias. Three studies used PDT while two studies used LT. All studies reported a significant improvement in clinical peri-implant inflammatory parameters in p-iM. For PDT, one study demonstrated a significant reduction for PDT group as compared to manual debridement (MD), while one study indicated comparable outcomes when tested with probiotics at follow-up. One study used PDT alone and indicated significant improvements in peri-implant parameters at follow-up. However, in the studies using LT, one study demonstrated a significant improvement in peri-implant parameters as compared to scaling and root planing alone, while other study indicated comparable outcomes when compared with manual debridement/chlorhexidine group at follow-up.

Conclusion: This systematic review demonstrated inconclusive findings to show the effect of PDT or LT in the management of p-iM due to methodological heterogeneity such as non-standard control groups, laser parameters and short follow-up period. The results of this review should be considered preliminary and further, more robust, well-designed studies with long-term follow up and standardized comparators with laser parameters are warranted.

Keywords: Laser; Peri-implant mucositis; Photodynamic therapy; Systematic review.