Dental Applications

There is a wide variety of PBM applications in general dentistry and dental subspecialties (periodontics, orthodontics, prosthodontics, maxillofacial, endodontics, oral medicine). PBM has important applications in pediatric dentistry, restorative dentistry, chronic dental pain, and can benefit other disorders that dentists deal with, such as disturbed sleep and headaches. Painful conditions include musculoskeletal pain, such as temporal mandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction; neuropathic pain, such as trigeminal neuralgia; postsurgical pain, such as tooth extraction; infections, such as Herpes simplex virus and periodontitis; cancer therapy side effects. such as oral mucositis and xerostomia; wound-healing indications, such as post-surgical and diabetic wounds; and nerve regeneration, such as iatrogenic surgical injury, headaches, and burning-mouth syndrome. The same principles for choosing a wavelength and the optimum dosimetry apply in and around the oral cavity as for PBM applied elsewhere on the body.