Title

Evaluation of post-operative pain, edema, trismus following third molar surgery using low level laser therapy: A randomised clinical trial

Authors

Kanika Sharma^1,*, Guruprasad Uikey², Anupa Gottipati³, Divya Kukkala⁴, Richa Singh⁵ & Anjali Sharma⁶

Affiliation

¹Department of Dentistry, Government Medical College, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India; ²Department of dentistry, Shyam shah medical college, Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, India; ³Department of Dentistry, Big smiles Florida 122 West Pine, Suite 300 Orlando, FL, 32801, USA; ⁴Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences, Hyderabad, India; ⁵Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Shree Bankey Bihari Dental College & Research Center, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India; ⁶Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Teerthanker Mahaveer Dental College and Research Centre, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Kanika Sharma - E-mail: dr.kanikasharma26@gmail.com
Guruprasad Uikey - E-mail: prasadguru097@gmail.com
Anupa Gottipati - E-mail: gottipatianupa@gmail.com
Divya Kukkala - E-mail: drdivya366@gmail.com
Richa Singh - E-mail: richashishodia@hotmail.com
Anjali Sharma - E-mail: anjali357512@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received May 1, 2026; Revised May 31, 2026; Accepted May 31, 2026, Published May 31, 2026
 

Abstract

Post-operative pain, edema and trismus following surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molars significantly affect patient quality of life and remain a major clinical concern. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the efficacy of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) in reducing these post-operative complications. Hence, sixty patients undergoing bilateral impacted mandibular third molar extractions received LLLT on one side and sham treatment on the contralateral side, with assessments of pain, edema and mouth opening on post-operative days one, three and seven. The LLLT group demonstrated significantly lower pain scores; reduced facial edema and improved mouth opening compared to the control side at all evaluated time points. Thus, we show that LLLT is an effective noninvasive adjunctive modality for minimizing post-operative morbidity following impacted mandibular third molar surgery.

Keywords

Low-level laser therapy (LLLT), third molar surgery, post-operative pain, edema, trismus

Citation

Sharma et al. Bioinformation 22(5): 3010-3016 (2026)

Edited by

P Kangueane

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.