Photobiomodulation series, 3 of 4
Laser Therapy...for Teeth? A New Way of Thinking About Your Pet's Oral Health
By Dr Ryan Morgan, Onward Veterinary Services ·
Here's a sentence you probably weren't expecting to read: we can use photobiomodulation therapy in your pet's mouth.
It does not remove tartar. It does not replace brushing. And your dog cannot skip a dental cleaning because they have had laser therapy.
What it may do is help us manage some of the inflammation in the tissue surrounding the teeth. There is veterinary research behind that.
A clever study in 47 dogs
Researchers studied 47 dogs undergoing a professional dental cleaning. After the cleaning they treated one side of each dog's mouth with PBMT and left the other side untreated, so each dog served as its own comparison. That is a hard thing to arrange, and it makes the result worth paying attention to.
The treated sides had significantly lower gingivitis scores from Day 1 through Day 15. The gums treated with light were less inflamed after the procedure.
Why would light help gums?
Because PBMT was never really about lasers. It is about how tissue responds to light energy.
Light can influence inflammation, circulation and the cellular activity involved in tissue repair, and none of that is exclusive to a knee or a back muscle. Gum tissue is still tissue.
Another tool, not another miracle cure
Periodontal disease is complicated. If disease sits under the gumline, shining a light on it does not remove the problem. Dental X-rays, cleaning above and below the gumline, extractions when necessary and good home dental care all still matter enormously. PBMT replaces none of it.
We are interested in a different question: can we make recovery more comfortable and help the tissue settle down afterward? Increasingly, the answer appears to be that PBMT may have a role.
And that is exactly how we like to think about new technology. Not as a replacement for good medicine, but as another way of making good medicine better for the patient experiencing it.
Next week we're tackling perhaps the biggest misconception of this entire series: is laser therapy really just for pain and injuries? The answer may surprise you.
And then we're putting the laser away, temporarily!
Next month we're exploring Medical Acupuncture, including why acupuncture points aren't quite as mysterious as they might seem, what those tiny needles actually do, and why we sometimes combine acupuncture with rehabilitation, medication and PBMT.
Light and needles? There is more connecting them than you might think.