Effect of LED photobiomodulation on dental implant osseointegration: An in vivo study.

Background: Photobiomodulation (PBM) may be prescribed after dental surgery to accelerate tissue healing and improve implant stability. The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of LED-PBM on the dental implant osseointegration.

Methods: A total of 48 implants (Kontact) were inserted in 8 Yucatan minipigs (6 implants per minipig) divided into 2 groups (test and control). The test group received LED-PBM with a total energy of 124.2 J/cm delivered over 4 sessions (at day0, day+8, day+15 and day+28) lasting 12 minutes each. At day+28, all animals were sacrificed, and their mandibles removed to perform histologic and histomorphometric analysis. Implant osseointegration was evaluated using the computation of bone/implant contact (BIC) index and bone surface/total surface (BS/ TS) ratio. The groups were compared using Student's unpaired test.

Results: BIC index and BS/TS ratio were significantly higher within the test group as compared to the control group (<0.01). Histologic observations on bone tissues demonstrated that LED-PBM may improve and accelerate dental implant osseointegration: 25% of dental implants analyzed within the test group were completely osseointegrated, versus 12.5% within the control group.

Conclusion: This experimental study indicates that LED-PBM contributes to enhancing implant treatment outcomes.