The short term biostimulation effects of gallium aluminium arsenide diode laser on experimentally induced temporomandibuler joint osteoarthritis: Ahistopathologic study

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic noninflammatory disease, which affects the articular cartilages and bone structures of joints. Treatment of OA with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) involvement must begin with removal of extreme or recurrent trauma. Usage of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, thermal therapy, ultrasound, infrared heat therapy, debridement of loose bodies, osteotomy and prosthetic replacement is applied in the later stages of the disease. In the literature there is no any other study Gallium Aluminium Arsenide diode laser (low level laser) biostimulation have applied to TMJ with OA involvement so; we aimed to investigate the short term histopathological effects of biostimulation on rabbits' TMJs which had experimentally induced. Therefore in the period of one month experimental OA was created with injection of sodium mono iodoacetate to 21 adult rabbits' TMJs. The Study Group 1 which contains seven rabbits were applied 14 sessions with continuous emulsion of laser with 940 nm wavelength, 5 W power, 15 J/cm2 density, 9 seconds long, 48 hours apart and the Study Group 2 also contains six rabbits were administered 28 sessions laser at 24 hours intervals with the same parameters. Control group which contains eight rabbits weren't applied any kind of laser treatment procedure except creating experimental OA. At the end of the experimental procedure all of the rabbits were sacrificed simultaneously whether joint cartilages, osteochondral junctions, chondrocyte appearances and subchondral ossification of TMJs were evaluated histopathologically. At the end of the study although normal tissue percentage was higher at laser applied study grups against control group but there's no significant difference seen statistically between groups (p>0.05). Consequently, the laser biostimulation protocols used in the study were not found effective. It was concluded that more comprehensive studies needed to apply to determine more effective laser biostimulation protocols for treatment of OA.