Colares Débora Frota, de Souto Medeiros Maurília Raquel, de Araújo Anna Clara Gomes, da Silva Barros Caio César, de Lisboa Lopes Costa Antonio, da Silveira Éricka Janine Dantas
Department of Oral Pathology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
Lasers Med Sci. 2025 Jun 9;40(1):264. doi: 10.1007/s10103-025-04512-w.
Salivary gland hypofunction (SGH) is associated with an increased risk of tooth decay, oral infections, halitosis, xerostomia, and impaired speaking and swallowing functions, leading to decreased quality of life. Several therapies have been used to increase saliva production, and photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) has shown promising results in treating SGH. This preliminary study aims to evaluate the efficacy of PBMT in SGH and changes in the quality of life of these patients. Eight patients diagnosed with SGH (salivary flow ≤ 0.2 mL/min) who were on continuous systemic medication underwent ten sessions of PBMT applied to the major salivary glands. A follow-up appointment was performed 45 days after the last session. The effect of PBMT was evaluated in terms of quality of life (XeQoLS) and dysphagia (EAT-10). The Friedman and Wilcoxon tests were used to analyze sialometry and questionnaire data. A p ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The unstimulated whole saliva flow (UWSF) rate improved in the fifth and tenth PBMT sessions (p = 0.005; p = 0.003, respectively). This improvement was also present 45 days after therapy (p = 0.04), thus demonstrating a long-term effect of PBMT in SGH treatment. Thus, our study demonstrates the efficacy of PBMT in treating salivary gland hypofunction, with a significant and sustained increase in UWSF rate even after the end of treatment. These findings suggest that PBMT may effectively improve saliva production in patients diagnosed with salivary gland hypofunction, including those on continuous systemic medication.
唾液腺功能减退（SGH）与龋齿、口腔感染、口臭、口干症以及说话和吞咽功能受损的风险增加相关，进而导致生活质量下降。已经使用了多种疗法来增加唾液分泌，而光生物调节疗法（PBMT）在治疗SGH方面已显示出有前景的结果。这项初步研究旨在评估PBMT对SGH的疗效以及这些患者生活质量的变化。八名被诊断为SGH（唾液流量≤0.2毫升/分钟）且正在接受持续全身药物治疗的患者接受了十次应用于主要唾液腺的PBMT治疗。在最后一次治疗后45天进行了随访预约。从生活质量（XeQoLS）和吞咽困难（EAT - 10）方面评估了PBMT的效果。使用Friedman检验和Wilcoxon检验来分析唾液流量测定和问卷数据。p≤0.05被认为具有统计学意义。在PBMT治疗的第五次和第十次疗程中，未刺激全唾液流量（UWSF）率有所改善（分别为p = 0.005；p = 0.003）。治疗后45天这种改善仍然存在（p = 0.04），从而证明了PBMT在SGH治疗中的长期效果。因此，我们的研究证明了PBMT在治疗唾液腺功能减退方面的疗效，即使在治疗结束后UWSF率也显著且持续增加。这些发现表明，PBMT可能有效地改善被诊断为唾液腺功能减退患者的唾液分泌，包括那些正在接受持续全身药物治疗的患者。
