Red Light Therapy for Tooth Extraction Healing: Scientific Evidence

Red 650 nm and infrared 810 nm diode lasers were compared head to head in a 2024 double-blind randomized controlled trial from Egypt of bone preservation after tooth extraction. 20 men aged 35 to 50 each had a lower back tooth removed and the socket plugged with collagen, then received 1 of the lasers at 100 mW, 350 mW/cm², and 63 J/cm² for 3 minutes in contact with the socket, in 6 sessions over 15 days (right after extraction and on days 1, 3, 5, 7, and 15). Only the 810 nm laser gave a significantly larger bone area on scans at 3 months, while only the 650 nm laser came out ahead on every measure of bone quality in tissue samples.

Applying infrared light either into the socket or through the cheek, a 2024 split-mouth double-blind randomized controlled trial in Brazil compared 2 photobiomodulation therapy routines after wisdom tooth removal. 20 patients had all 4 wisdom teeth removed, with sockets on 1 side receiving 660 and 808 nm light together inside the socket, and the other side receiving 660 nm light in the socket and 808 nm light on the face over the jaw muscle, at 100 mW and 32 J, 3 times a week for 7 days. Swelling, healing, and bone density all improved steadily over 3 months with no difference between the 2 routines. Both routines appeared linked to few complications and good healing of gum and bone.

Comparing low-level laser therapy (LLLT) with no laser, a 2024 clinical trial in Iran followed 30 patients who had an implant placed in the socket right after a tooth was removed. The laser group received 660 nm light at 100 to 400 mW and 6.26 J/cm², starting straight after surgery and repeated 3 times a week for 2 weeks. According to the trial, bone loss around the implant at 6 months was significantly lower in the laser group than in the no-laser group.

Across 40 patients having a lower back tooth removed, a 2023 double-blind randomized controlled trial in Brazil tested low-level laser therapy (LLLT) and antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT), a dye activated by light. The patients, 62.5% women with an average age of 41.25, were split into 4 groups receiving no extra treatment, aPDT, LLLT, or both, with the lasers at 660 and 808 nm, 100 mW, 4 to 9 J, and 133 to 300 J/cm² for 40 to 90 seconds in contact with the gum and socket. All 3 treated groups had significantly better mouth-related quality of life scores 7 days after the extraction than the untreated group, with the combined group scoring best at 1 week and 1 month.

Whether photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) changes immune markers in saliva after surgery to remove an extra tooth was examined in a 2022 clinical trial from Czechia. 38 patients took part: 18 were treated with an 808 nm diode laser after surgery, and 20 formed the control group, and the surgery was planned using 3D scans. A protective antibody in saliva fell significantly after surgery in the control group but did not change in the laser group, and a germ-fighting enzyme rose with laser and fell without it. The authors suggested that the laser directly influenced healing and reduced inflammation.

Among 15 patients aged 30 to 70 having a socket rebuilt after tooth extraction, a 2022 clinical trial in Italy combined a high-power diode laser with LED treatment. After each extraction, the socket was treated with a laser and hydrogen peroxide to kill germs, filled with donated bone and a blood-derived membrane, and then given photobiomodulation (PBM) with an LED device every 2 weeks for 4 months. The gum had closed over the socket by 2 weeks in all but 1 patient, who healed by 3 weeks, and bone loss appeared minimal at 9 months. Implants were placed in every patient without further bone grafting.

This 2021 case report from Brazil described a 36-year-old man whose tooth socket was treated with photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) and tracked with heat-sensing cameras. PBMT used a 660 nm laser at 100 mW, 2 J, and 71 J/cm² in contact with the socket (20 seconds a dose at 100 mW), over 35 days. Faster healing of the socket showed up on the heat images within 2 months of the extraction, the study reported.

Researchers in Italy tested photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) with an Nd:YAG laser in a 2021 split-mouth randomized controlled trial of 20 non-smoking teenagers having both lower wisdom teeth removed. The 11 girls and 9 boys, aged 15 to 17, had the 2 surgeries 40 days apart, with 1 side receiving the 1064 nm laser at 1 W and 10 Hz for 2 minutes, held 1 cm away, daily for 14 days, and the other side left untreated. Researchers found that gum samples taken 22 days after each surgery showed fewer inflammatory cells and a more mature surface layer on the laser side.

According to a 2021 randomized controlled trial from Slovenia, a full laser routine after tooth extraction led to denser bone 4 months later than standard care. 53 simple extractions were randomized to the laser routine, in which an erbium laser (2,940 nanometres) cleaned and disinfected the socket and an Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm stabilized the blood clot and provided photobiomodulation, or to standard care. According to the trial, the rise in bone density was significantly greater in the laser group. No patient in the laser group had pain, bleeding, or swelling afterward, while in the standard group 1 bled, 2 swelled, and 3 reported pain of 3 to 5 out of 10 for up to three days.

94.7% of laser-treated patients had a fully healed socket lining 2 weeks after tooth extraction, against none in the sham group, in a 2021 double-blind randomized controlled trial in Brazil. The 40 extractions were in patients who had previously had radiation for head and neck cancer, with 19 receiving photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) at 808 nm, 40 mW, and 100 J/cm² for 1 minute 10 seconds, over 28 days, and 21 receiving a sham, all with antibiotics and stitches to close the wound. The trial found that only 21.1% of the PBMT group reported pain afterward, compared with 66.7% of the sham group, and fewer took painkillers by day 7.

Doses of 10 and 30 J/cm² were compared with a sham in a 2020 double-blind randomized controlled trial in Brazil of low-intensity laser after wisdom tooth removal. 57 patients were split into 19 receiving 660 nm light at 30 mW and 1000 mW/cm² for about 2 seconds at 10 J/cm², 20 receiving 7 seconds at 30 J/cm², and 18 receiving a sham on the gum behind the neighboring tooth, 3 times a week, with follow-up over 6 months. Swelling scores on day 3 were 1.46 in the 10 J/cm² group and 1.26 in the 30 J/cm² group, compared with 0.59 with the sham, a significant difference for both laser groups. The 10 J/cm² dose came out best for gum healing, the trial found.

A split-mouth design gave each patient 1 laser-treated and 1 untreated socket in a 2020 randomized controlled trial in Brazil of photobiomodulation (PBM) for tooth extraction healing. 20 healthy patients (15 women and 5 men, aged 19 to 70, average 40) had a lower back tooth removed on each side, and 1 socket received a GaAlAs diode laser at 808 nm, 100 mW, 3.6 W/cm², and 89 J/cm² over 25 seconds at each of 5 points, right after surgery and on days 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 15, while the other had the same steps with the device unplugged. Bone samples taken at day 45 from 17 patients appeared to show more bone surface and more, better-connected bone strands on the PBM side, with total bone volume only tending to be higher. Healing was uneventful on both sides, with no sign of infection.

2015 brought a randomized controlled trial from Romania asking whether low-level laser therapy (LLLT) could shorten the wait between socket grafting and implant placement. 30 patients had a socket filled with donated bone and covered with a collagen dressing, with 15 then receiving 618 nm light at 20 mW/cm² for 20 minutes, 3 times a day for 21 days, and 15 receiving no laser. Tissue samples showed plentiful new bone with no sign of inflammation at 2 months in the laser group, while the same stage appeared in the control group only at 4 months.

45 of 89 tooth sockets in 27 patients with HIV were treated with a biostimulating laser in a 2015 clinical trial in Poland. The 21 men and 6 women received an 820 nm diode laser at 200 mW and 6 J/cm² on the treated sockets (30 seconds a socket at 200 mW) for 5 days in a row, while the other 44 sockets healed on their own. New blood vessel growth, a key step in wound healing, appeared much faster in the laser-treated sockets, regardless of the patient's sex, the tooth position, or the strength of their immune system. No serious complications were seen after the extractions.

A 2015 randomized controlled trial in Brazil tested laser phototherapy (LPT) on bone repair 40 days after a back tooth was removed, with a view to placing implants soon after. 20 healthy patients aged 30 to 39 were split into 10 who received a GaAlAs diode laser at 808 nm, 100 mW, 75 J/cm², and 3 J per point over 30 seconds at each of 5 points, and 10 who had no laser. The amount of new bone in the socket was significantly higher in the laser group, with thinner, more closely packed bone strands.

Bone and gum healing were no different whether an infrared laser was used alone or with a red laser, in a 2025 split-mouth double-blind randomized controlled trial in Brazil of 20 patients having all 4 wisdom teeth removed. The patients, 60% women with an average age of 28.58, had sockets on 1 side treated with photobiomodulation therapy at 808 nm and on the other side at both 660 and 808 nm, with follow-up over 3 months. The trial found no statistically significant difference between the 2 treatments for any measure, including bone density and inflammation.

Comparing photobiomodulation (PBM) with a concentrate made from the patient's own blood, a 2024 double-blind randomized controlled trial in Turkey treated 34 patients having impacted teeth removed on both sides. 1 socket in each patient was filled with the blood concentrate, and the other received a 940 nm diode laser at 500 mW/cm² and 10 J/cm² for 1 minute at several points without contact, daily for 21 days. The trial found no statistically significant difference between the 2 treatments in pain, gum healing, or bone healing on X-rays. The authors suggested that blood concentrate may help more with early healing, and PBM with long-term bone structure.

When researchers in Turkey removed baby molars from both sides of the mouth in 40 children aged 6 to 10, a 2024 randomized controlled trial treated 1 socket with low-level laser therapy (LLLT) and left the other to heal on its own. The laser socket received a 980 nm diode laser at 0.5 W and 300 J for 1 minute right after the extraction. The trial found that the unhealed surface of the laser socket was significantly smaller on days 3 and 7, and pain scores were significantly lower on day 3. The authors concluded that LLLT improved wound healing but was not very effective at easing discomfort.

In 2024, a review from France examined whether photobiomodulation, also called low-level laser therapy (LLLT), helps preserve bone after tooth extraction and steady dental implants placed in the socket. Of 414 articles screened, 12 were included, and the most consistent protocols used a GaAlAs laser above 800 nanometres in 3 to 4 sessions of 4 to 5 minutes each at a single point. The review found that LLLT appeared to help in 10 of the 12 studies, with 6 of 8 studies on bone preservation and 3 of 4 on implant stability reporting significant results. The studies varied widely, and the authors called for placebo-controlled trials to confirm the findings.

Published in 2022, this split-mouth randomized controlled trial from Brazil treated 1 of each patient's 2 wisdom tooth sockets with red and infrared photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT). 19 patients completed the trial, with the treated socket receiving 660 and 808 nm light at 100 mW, 8 J, and 282.64 J/cm² for 40 seconds, right after surgery and on days 3 and 7. No difference in bone repair appeared on scans at 1 week or 3 months, though swelling was lower and the gum healed better on the laser side at 7 days.

10 healthy patients who each had a laser-treated and an untreated socket showed less inflammation on the laser side in a 2011 clinical trial in Italy of tooth extraction healing. A pulsed 904 nm laser at 33 W peak power, 200 mW average power, 30 kHz, 200 mW/cm², and 180 J/cm² was applied for 15 minutes to 1 socket after each patient had teeth removed on both sides. Researchers found that the laser stopped the rise of 4 inflammation markers in the gum tissue at 7 days, while bone-building markers did not change. Patients reported less pain at the laser-treated site. The authors described the treatment as safe and well tolerated.

No difference in bone density followed low-level laser treatment in a 2000 randomized controlled trial from Czechia of 150 patients having a back tooth removed. Sockets and the bone around them were treated with a 670 nm diode laser or a 632.8 nm helium-neon laser at 5 or 20 mW and 1.5 J/cm², pulsed at 5, 292, or 9000 Hz, with 30 patients receiving no laser. Saliva markers of healing appeared to differ significantly between the laser and no-laser groups and between pulse rates, and matched how patients rated the treatment. However, bone density at 6 months was no different with or without laser.

Published in 1991, this clinical trial from Germany tested a 6 mW helium-neon laser after the removal of lower wisdom teeth, comparing wound healing with an untreated group. The trial found no statistically significant benefit from the laser, either between patients or within the same patient. The authors noted a possible positive effect on new tissue filling the wound, and no side effects.