Clinical efficacy of lasers in the management of recurrent aphthous ulcers of oral cavity: a systematic review of randomized control trials

Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is one of mankind's most common diseases with a nonspecific etiology. Lasers are gaining traction in dentistry due to their remarkable effects on pain reduction. Their convenience and lack of side effects have made them an attractive alternative to conventional interventions. This systematic review aims to summarize the current evidence on the efficacy of lasers in managing recurrent aphthous ulcers. This systematic review was performed according to PRISMA guidelines. The databases PubMed, Scopus, and EBSCOHost were electronically queried to retrieve trials published until July 2024 using the appropriate keywords. The outcomes evaluated include pain reduction, healing duration, and lesion size reduction. The bias assessment was conducted using the Revised Cochrane risk-of-bias method designed explicitly for randomized trials (Protocol Registration No: INPLASY2024110096). After evaluating the eligibility of 311 articles, 24 trials were included in the final review. Of 24 trials, data from 16 trials demonstrated that laser therapy is more efficacious in pain reduction than the control regardless of its power. Eleven of the included articles showed that low-level laser therapy had a shorter healing time than the control group. Six trials presented data indicating that low-level laser therapy results in a more significant reduction in ulcer diameter. Current evidence show that low-level as well as CO2 laser treatment are superior to conventional therapy for pain management in RAS. Future research should focus on determining the ideal laser treatment settings by standardizing parameters and outcome measurements to achieve maximum pain reduction and healing in RAS.