Effect of low-intensity laser treatment on pain after extraction of impacted mandibular third molars: a randomised, controlled, clinical trial

Extraction of impacted third molars is painful, so we have evaluated whether low-intensity laser could reduce the pain. Sixty patients were randomly allocated to five groups that were treated with laser immediately after extraction. Postoperative pain was evaluated after two and seven days. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to assess whether the distribution was normal, and as it was skewed, the Kruskal-Wallis test, ANOVA and the Student-Newman-Keuls test for multiple comparisons were used to compare the groups. The Wilcoxon test was used for comparisons of pain (measured by visual analogue scale (VAS) and numerical rating scale (NRS) 101 between the second and seventh postoperative days). Probabilities of less than 0.05 were accepted as significant. We conclude that a single session of low intensity laser had no significant effect on the amount of pain under the conditions investigated.