COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BURNING MOUTH TREATMENT WITH LOW-INTENSITY LASER THERAPY AND TRANSCUTANEOUS ELECTRICAL NERVOUS STIMULATION: A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL
Burning Mouth Syndrome. Xerostomia. Dysgeusia. Low-Level Light Therapy. Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation.
Introduction: The management of patients with burning mouth is a challenge in the clinical routine. Objective: To compare the effect of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) in the treatment of burning mouth. Methodology: Randomized clinical trial, consisting of 25 patients with burning mouth, of which 12 were allocated to the TENS group and 13 to the LLLT group. The two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used to verify whether there was a significant difference between the times T0, T1, T2 and T3 in relation to symptomatology, investigated through the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and unstimulated salivary flow with TENS and LLLT interventions. Results: Most partients were female with a mean age of 59.25 years in the TENS group and 62.08 in the LLLT group. The VAS analysis showed a significant intragroup difference (p<0.001), and in the TENS group it occurred between T0xT1, T0xT2 and T0xT3, and in the LLLT group, between T0xT2 and T0xT3. There was a significant difference for VAS between the interaction of times with the analyzed groups (p=0.034), whose difference was found between the time intervals T2 and T3 (p=0.003), in which the VAS score decreased in the LLLT group and increased in the TENS group. The linear trend test in relation to unstimulated salivary flow showed a statistical difference intergroup between T1 and T2 times, since salivary flow increased in the TENS group and decreased in the LLLT group (p=0.052). Conclusion: TENS and LLLT were effective in reducing the symptoms of burning mouth during treatment sessions, and LLLT presented a better VAS score after treatment follow-up. Additionally, none of the therapies employed had adverse effects.