Clinical evaluation of lasers and sodium fluoride gel in the treatment of dentine hypersensitivity.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate and compare the efficacy of CO(2) and Er:YAG lasers alone and in combination with topical sodium fluoride (NaF) in the management of dentine hypersensitivity.

Materials And Methods: A group of 50 patients presenting with a total of 420 hypersensitive teeth were randomly allocated into five groups. Group 1 was treated with 2% NaF, groups 2 and 3 were lased by a CO(2) (1 W, continuous wave mode, for 10 sec) or Er:YAG (30 Hz, 60 mJ for 10 sec, without water/air spray) laser, and groups 4 and 5 received NaF plus the CO(2) and the Er:YAG laser, respectively. The scanning speed of the laser was 0.8 mm/sec. The degree of thermal sensitivity was determined with an evaporative stimulus consisting of a 1-sec air blast at a distance of 2 mm from each site tested. Quantification of the degree of discomfort was determined according to a four-point pain scale before treatment and 1 wk, 1 mo, and 6 mo after treatment.

Results: All treatment forms resulted in significant improvement of discomfort. At 1 wk, 1 mo, and 6 mo, cold air blast scores were significantly reduced compared to baseline scores, except for the NaF group. In the NaF group, there was a statistically significant increase in mean degree of discomfort at 6 mo compared with 1 wk (p +/- 0.01) and 1 mo (p +/- 0.001). Comparison of the other treatment regimens revealed that cold air blast scores were significantly lower for the other four treatments than for NaF gel alone (p +/- 0.001). No superiority was found for desensitization among the CO(2), Er:YAG, CO(2) + NaF, and Er:YAG + NaF groups.

Conclusions: We concluded that both the CO(2) and Er:YAG lasers have promising potential for the treatment of dentine hypersensitivity. Lasers in combination with NaF gel appear to show better efficacy compared to either treatment modality alone.