Efficacy of Carbon Dioxide Laser in Treating Oral Lichen Planus-A Scoping Review

Introduction: Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) is a chronic disorder and its aetiology is multifactorial. Factors like local and systemic inducers of cell-mediated hypersensitivity, stress, autoimmune response and viral infection play a major role. Due to the varying aetiological factors, there are varying treatment modalities. With systemic medication, remission of the lesion is the most common side-effect.

Aim: To determine the efficacy of carbon dioxide laser in treating OLP.

Materials and Methods: In this systematic review, the study was done between January 2022 to April 2022 at Rajas Dental College and Hospital, Tamil Nadu. Search categories were specifically followed to databases like PubMed, PubMed Central, Cochrane, Medline, Embase and in Google Scholar. MeSH terms like CO2 Laser, OLP, Carbondioxide Laser and Oral Premalignant Condition were used for searching the articles.

Results: A total of 942 articles had been collected. But after analysing the articles, only 16 articles based on the preformed inclusion and exclusion criteria had been selected. Out of these three were retrospective studies, five were prospective studies, one clinical trial, one observational study and one study was a Randomised Control Trial (RCT), one was a non RCT, one was a structured abstract, one was a single arm intervention study, one was a case series, and one was a case report.

Conclusion: Carbon dioxide laser was very efficient in treating larger size lesions. Recurrence rate of the lesions was very less when treated at an early stage.