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Role of laser irradiation in direct pulp capping procedures: a systematic review and meta-analysis

  • Review Article
  • Published:
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Abstract

A variety of materials are available to treat exposed dental pulp by direct pulp capping. The healing response of the pulp is crucial to form a dentin bridge and seal off the exposed pulp. Studies have used lasers to stimulate the exposed pulp to form tertiary dentin. The aim of the present systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the evidence on the effects of laser irradiation as an adjunctive therapy to stimulate healing after pulp exposure. A systematic literature search was conducted up to April 2016. A structured search using the keywords “Direct pulp capping,” “Lasers,” “Calcium hydroxide pulp capping,” and “Resin pulp capping” was performed. Initially, 34 potentially relevant articles were identified. After removal of duplicates and screening by title, abstract, and full text when necessary, nine studies were included. Studies were assessed for bias and data were synthetized using a random-effects meta-analysis model. Six studies were clinical, and three were preclinical animal trials; the follow-up period ranged from 2 weeks to 54 months. More than two thirds of the included studies showed that laser therapy used as an adjunct for direct pulp capping was more effective in maintaining pulp vitality than conventional therapy alone. Meta-analysis showed that the success rate in the laser treatment group was significantly higher than the control group (log odds ratio = 1.737; 95 % confidence interval, 1.304–2.171). Lasers treatment of exposed pulps can improve the outcome of direct pulp capping procedures; a number of confounding factors may have influenced the outcomes of the included studies.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Dentistry, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA

    Fawad Javed & Sergio Varela Kellesarian

  2. Department of Prosthetic Dental Science, College of Dentistry, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Tariq Abduljabbar & Fahim Vohra

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, Capital College, PA, USA

    Elham Gholamiazizi

  4. Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA

    Changyong Feng

  5. Dental Department, King Khaled University Hospital, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Khaled Aldosary

  6. Department of Oral Surgery and Implant Dentistry, Dental School, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany

    Georgios E. Romanos

  7. Department of Periodontology, School of Dental Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA

    Georgios E. Romanos

Authors
  1. Fawad Javed
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  2. Sergio Varela Kellesarian
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  3. Tariq Abduljabbar
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  4. Elham Gholamiazizi
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  5. Changyong Feng
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  6. Khaled Aldosary
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  7. Fahim Vohra
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  8. Georgios E. Romanos
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fawad Javed.

Ethics declarations

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the College of Dentistry, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This is a systematic review article; therefore, an informed consent was not required. This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. The authors extend their sincere appreciations to Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University for its funding of this prolific research group (PRG-1437-38)

Appendix A: List of excluded studies, with reason for exclusion in parenthesis

Appendix A: List of excluded studies, with reason for exclusion in parenthesis

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Javed, F., Kellesarian, S.V., Abduljabbar, T. et al. Role of laser irradiation in direct pulp capping procedures: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lasers Med Sci 32, 439–448 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-016-2077-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-016-2077-6

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