Date of Award

2016

Degree Type

Selective Evidence-Based Medicine Review

Degree Name

Master of Science in Health Sciences - Physician Assistant

Department

Physician Assistant Studies

Department Chair

John Cavenagh, MBA, PhD, PA-C

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not laser therapy is effective at relieving pain in adult patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis.

STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review of three randomized controlled trials published in 2009, 2009, and 2013.

DATA SOURCES: Three randomized controlled trials were obtained using PubMed.

OUTCOMES MEASURED: The symptom of pain was measured for improvement by patient survey of visual analog pain scales.

RESULTS: Prasad et al. (2013), Tezel et al. (2009), and Zand et al. (2009) all demonstrated improvement in a majority of the subjects’ pain relief from treatment with laser therapy.

CONCLUSION: Evidence to support the efficacy of laser therapy as a treatment of pain relief for recurrent aphthous stomatitis in adults is strong at this point in time, due to a relevant subject population, fixed standard of measurement, and a wide spectrum of subject age. The data strongly supports the efficacy of laser therapy as a superior method of pain relief for adult patients suffering from recurrent aphthous stomatitis.

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