Clinical outcomes of surgical laser interventions and adjunctive photobiomodulation in osseous crown lengthening: A systematic review
Published October 21, 2026. Two small studies found that PBM after crown-lengthening surgery reduced pain at selected early time points, and one also reported lower pain-medication use. The evidence is too limited and inconsistent to identify a best protocol or support a broad treatment recommendation.
Fereidouni K, Mosleh-Shirazi O, Nikdast P, Kiany F.
Lasers in Medical Science · Publication date: 2026-10-21
Added to site: 2026-10-22
DOI: 10.1007/s10103-026-05061-6
Published October 21, 2026. Added to Neurofeedback.com October 22, 2026.
- Modalities
- Photobiomodulation, Low-level laser therapy, Surgical lasers
- Clinical focus
- Postoperative pain, Crown lengthening, Periodontal surgery
- Population
- Adults undergoing osseous crown-lengthening procedures for esthetic or restorative indications
- Sample
- Five clinical studies published from 2021 to 2024; four randomized comparative studies and one nonrandomized comparative study. A pooled person-level denominator was not stated in the checked text
- Intervention / method
- Three studies assessed lasers used during surgery and two assessed adjunctive postoperative PBM after conventional surgery; heterogeneity prevented meta-analysis
- Comparator
- Conventional surgical approaches or placebo treatment, depending on the included study
Clinician summary
Five comparative studies were included. Surgical-laser outcomes were generally comparable with conventional approaches, with descriptive bleeding and visibility advantages in some settings. The two adjunctive-PBM studies reported lower early pain at selected assessments, but only one reported lower analgesic consumption. No pooled effect was calculated.
How to interpret the findings
Only five heterogeneous studies were eligible. One randomized-study result was at high risk of bias, the other three raised some concerns, and the nonrandomized study was at serious risk. No assessed randomized result was low risk. Protocols, comparators, outcomes and follow-up varied, reporting was inconsistent, and surgical technique could not always be separated from laser effects.
Equipment and disclosures
Included studies used Er,Cr:YSGG systems, single-wavelength diode lasers and one dual-wavelength diode approach; the two adjunctive PBM studies used 860 nm or combined 980 and 810 nm protocols. The review does not support a superior device or protocol and makes no BrainMaster attribution.
The authors declared no competing interests. No funding statement was identified in the checked publisher text or PubMed record. The authors reported using AI software only for grammar and English-language fluency. No correction, retraction or expression-of-concern relation appeared in the retained Crossref record; this is a bounded check. AI-assisted review.
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Summary prepared with AI assistance. Source verification does not imply an independent replication or a clinician's endorsement. Read our review method.