Efficacy and safety of photobiomodulation combined with oral cryotherapy on oral mucosa pain in patients with burning mouth syndrome: A multi-institutional, randomized, controlled trial

These findings suggest that low-level light therapy (LLLT) could be a superior treatment option for OLP. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the efficacy of LLLT for oral lichen planus (OLP). PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, and WOS were searched up to February 2023 using terms like “OLP, ” “LLLT, ” and related keywords. The results indicated that LLLT significantly improved long-term analgesic efficacy (over 12 weeks posttreatment; MD = -1.20, 95% CI -2.01 to -0.38, P < 0.001), whereas no significant changes were observed in either the short term (MD = -0.68, 95% CI -1.38 to 0.01, P = 0.05) or the medium term (MD = -0.89, 95% CI -1.96 to 0.17, P = 0.10). No adverse events related to LLLT were reported. LLLT appears to alleviate pain, enhance the clinical outcomes of OLP lesions, and lower the likelihood of relapse in OLP patients