title: The soft laser: therapeutic tool or popular placebo?
abstract: Because of the alleged effectiveness of soft laser therapy in the treatment of a wide range of medical and dental conditions, it is becoming increasingly popular with both patients and practitioners. It was the purpose of this study to assess soft laser treatment of hypersensitive dentin, gingivitis, pulp-capped teeth, herpes labialis, and nausea. Clinical trails demonstrated no advantage in augmenting or replacing conventional treatment of these conditions with soft laser therapy, despite its positive effect on patient attitude toward treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative and Preventive Denstistry, University of Heidelberg Dental School, West Germany.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wilder-Smith
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003785:Dental Pulp Capping / Q000379:methods; D003807:Dentin Sensitivity / Q000532:radiotherapy; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005891:Gingivitis / Q000532:radiotherapy; D006560:Herpes Labialis / Q000532:radiotherapy; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D009325:Nausea / Q000517:prevention & control; D010919:Placebos; D014076:Tooth Diseases / Q000532:radiotherapy*
chemical_list: D010919:Placebos