The diode photobiomodulation therapy with 915 nm wavelength aids in pain management during local infiltration of maxillary incisors.

A study sought to assess impact of photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) on lowering pain during local infiltration of incisors.

This prospective split-mouth triple-blinded randomized clinical trial was intended to evaluate pain perception during insertion of the needle and local anesthetic injection in thirty-two healthy subjects who needed operative caries management on contralateral maxillary incisors.  Following no irradiation in the sham group and laser intervention (915 nm, power of 1.5 W, energy density of 72 J cm-2, duty cycle of 60%) in the active group, execution of injection was done.

Utilizing numerical rating scale (NRS), an assessment of the patient's pain perception was done immediately. The washout period between 2 appointments was 1 week.  For assessing the comparison of pain scores amid 2 appointments and the impact of anxiety level of former dental injections,  utilization of Pearson correlation and Wilcoxon signed-rank statistical analyses were done.

The mean pain scores for sham laser and active laser groups are depicted in Table 1:

The sham laser group exhibited statistically significant greater NRS compared to the active laser group.

The diode PBMT minimized pain during local anesthesia of maxillary incisors. The anxiety experience of dental injection exhibited no substantial impact on the pain perception scale.