Photodynamic therapy as an adjuvant to endodontic treatment: a literature review

Abstract

Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) has been growing in endodontics due to the excellent potential for in vivo root canal decontamination. This literature review aims to discuss the effectiveness of PDT in assisting as an adjuvant to endodontic treatment and the different clinical applications and their results. Thorough research was performed between March and May 2020, using the “Terapia fotodinâmica” and “Endodontia” descriptors indexed in the Descriptors in Health Sciences (DeCs) and the “Photodynamic therapy” and “Endodontics” descriptors indexed in the Medical Subject Heading Terms (MeshTerms –MeSH). The databases searched were SciELO, Pubmed, and LILACS, for publications between 2013 and 2020. In this bibliographic survey, it was selected 28 articles for a full-text analysis and used as references. The bibliographic survey showed that PDT effectively assists the endodontic treatment, offers a high potential for eliminating bacteria such as Enterococcus faecalis, and is little invasive and risk-free for patients. It was concluded that PDT is clearly effective, but its clinical applicability is still subject to different protocols, which requires developing a protocol for common use.