Estudo sobre o potencial da terapia a laser de baixa potência (lllt) na periodontite apical : avaliação histológica da influência da LLLT na evolução do processo inflamatório periacapical induzido, e no seu uso como terapia adjuvante ao tratamento convencional, no modelo experimental da periodontite em ratos

Abstract

Apical periodontitis, most frequent as a consequence of dental caries, is considered a pathological process of difficult control and cure, due to the involvement of immune system in its evolution and maintenance. The low-level laser therapy (LLLT) is lately being used as a therapeutic measure in some areas of Dentistry; however its mode of action and the consequent effects on apical periodontitis are not yet well understood. The objectives of the present study was to show a histological evaluation of the consequence of application of LLLT during the evolution of experimentally induced inflammatory apical lesion in rats, and evaluate the effect of use of LLLT as an auxiliary therapy to conventional endodontic treatment of established apical periodontitis, in the same experimental model. The study was performed in two stages: in the first phase, 40 adults, male Wistar rats were utilized, with four animals used as “sham-operated” control group (GC), and the other 36 animals divided into two groups of 18 each (G1 and G2), and subjected to induction of apical periodontitis by opening the crown of the left front molar and leaving the root pulp open to the oral cavity. The animals of G1 suffered only the induction of lesion, while those of G2 also received LLLT, at 830nm wave length and exit potency of 100 mW in the dental apical region, on days 0, 10, 20 and 30 (total irradiation dose of 28 J/cm2, at 5.6 J/cm2 per application). The animals were sacrificed in the following manner: one animal of the control group (GC) on each of the days 0, 10, 20 and 30, and six animals from each of the groups G1 and G2, on days 10, 20 and 30. In the second phase of the study, 12 animals constituted the following three experimental groups of four each (G3, G4 and G5): G3 – apical periodontitis induced and sacrificed 21 days later; G4 – apical periodontitis induced + treated with Calen® on day 21 of induction of lesion, and sacrificed 21 days later; and G5 – apical periodontitis + treated with Calen® + LLLT applied as in G2, and sacrificed 21 days later. Histological evaluations performed on the left mandibles revealed that animals of the control group (GC) did not have alterations in the periapical tissues. All the animals of G1 developed apical periodontitis, while the G2 animals treated with LLLT from day 0 of lesion induction revealed markedly more intense inflammatory lesions and greater alveolar bone loss in the periapical region, as compared to those of G1 which did not receive laser irradiation. Histological studies on the second phase groups G3, G4 and G5, demonstrated that animals treated with Calen® alone (G4), and with Calen® + LLLT (G5) presented less severe apical periodontitis on day 42 of induction of disease, when compared with those of G3 at day 21 of disease induction. More significantly, animals of G5, treated also with LLLT, revealed less intense apical periodontitis, than those of G4 which received only Calen® treatment. These evidences indicate that low-level laser irradiation, when employed as the only treatment for apical periodontitis, could present the risk of aggravating an ongoing inflammatory process; while its use as an adjunct therapy to conventional endodontic treatment seems to contribute to a better control of the periapical inflammatory disease. These preliminary, and apparently contradictory, results seem to suggest that LLLT may not, in fact, possess an anti-inflammatory potential attributed to it in occasional reports, but it likely exerts some stimulatory influence on the activity of immune cells engaged in the inflammatory disease process, or on those involved in the resolution of the inflammatory disease initiated by the conventional endodontic therapeutic measures.