Effectiveness of Low-level Laser Therapy on Reversing Soft-tissue Local Anesthesia among 5- to 8-year-old Children: A Randomized Split-mouth Clinical Trial

These effects can cause inadvertent biting of buccal mucosa, tongue, and lips in children and have been reported for a long time. 10he literature has assessed the role of the sole local anesthesia reversal agent, phentolamine mesylate. 11However, it has a major imperfection of being an invasive agent, which necessitates an additional injection in the oral cavity.Additionally, phentolamine, being a potent vasodilator, exhibits minimum safety and maximum potential for adverse events in children. 12ecently, there has been a spotlight on the application of lasers in dentistry, and Literature has shown that low-level laser therapy IntroductIonLocal anesthetics are defined as a group of drugs that produce loss of sensation in a circumscribed area of the body by depressing excitation in nerve endings or inhibiting the conduction process in peripheral nerves without inducing loss of consciousness .1 Local anesthetics are routinely used in dentistry for delivering pain-free dental treatments. 2,3The American Association of Pediatric Dentistry recommends the usage of local anesthetic agents such as lidocaine, mepivacaine, articaine, prilocaine, and bupivacaine. 4However, lidocaine and articaine are commonly used in children. 5Articaine is considered more potent than the gold standard lidocaine, with low toxicity and a high success rate in dental infiltration anesthesia in the mandible, it holds tremendous potential for broad application in the near future. 6he major drawback of local anesthetics in the pediatric population is the prolonged soft tissue anesthesia effect, and the addition of vasoconstrictors further increases it. 7In general, the duration of soft tissue numbness is 3-5 hours, which exceeds the period of pulpal analgesia and length of dental appointments by a few hours, which is insignificant during routine dental procedures in children. 8This prolonged soft tissue numbness hinders re-adaptation to normal life in various aspects, such as altered facial appearance, altered sensation, and functional aspects such as decreased ability to eat, speak, drink and smile.