Maria Lucia Zarvos Varellis (Brazil)

PhD Biophotonics Program at Nove de Julho University

On-line: Evaluation of photobiomodulation in salivary production of patients with hyposalivation induced by anti-hypertensive drug

Background: Arterial hypertension is a systemic condition that affects about 35% of the world population. The drugs that are used for its control can produce hyposalivation and have the potential to induce xerostomia. It induces discomfort to the patient, interfering with phonation, chewing, starch digestion (ptyalin and salivary amylase), formation of the bolus, swallowing, dysphagia, dysgeusia, difficulty in adapting total and partial removable dentures, caries index (buffer capacity) and periodontal disease (immunoglobulin protection and self-cleaning), besides being a risk factor for bad breath and oral burning syndrome. In this research, we demonstrate the effect of photobiomodulation on the salivary flow of patients who are using antihypertensive drugs. Material and methods: 40 subjects were randomly allocated in one of two groups: control (placebo) and photobiomodulation. The subjects had their salivary glands (20 sites) irradiated with a laser emitting at 808nm, 4J/site once a week for 4 weeks and had their salivary flow measured before and after the whole treatment. Results The intragroup analysis (before and after treatment) shows a significant difference for both non-stimulated and stimulated salivary flow in the photobiomodulation group (p=0.0007 and p=0.0001, respectively) Comparing the control group with the photobiomodulation group, significant differences were found for both non-stimulated (p=0.0441) and stimulated salivary flow (p=0.0441) after the treatment. Conclusion: This clinical trial showed that PBM is capable of significantly increasing the salivary flow of patients who are using antihypertensive drugs.