Laser Tongue Debridement for Oral Malodor

N/ACompletedNCT04120948

New York Head & Neck Institute54 enrolled

Overview

Malodor is a multifactorial condition with oral pathology representing the main culprit and the tongue being the first to second contributor to the malodor. Bacterial load can represent a quantifiable measure regardless of the original pathology. It is hypothesized that reduction in malodor can be represented by tongue changes both in appearance, bacterial and biofilm load reduction (measured by CFU and volatile gases measurement), organoleptic measurement and subjective improvement. Methods: A randomized controlled prospective study under IRB approval. Diagnostic criteria for enrollment and follow up were organoleptic test by 2 judges, halimeter reading, tongue colores changes HALT questionnaire and direct aerobic and anaerobic tongue cultures measured by CFU. Patients were treated with laser tongue debridement (LTD) with an Er,Cr:YSGG solid state laser has been shown to be effective in biofilm reduction.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Halitosis

Interventions

10-minute treatment with the Waterlase Express (Biolase, Irvine CA). The dorso-posterior surface of the tongue is treated with the laser in 10 passes of 60 seconds each with 10 seconds of rest in between. Laser settings were 60μs pulse width, 4W, 40Hz, 10% air and 5% water irrigation. An MC12 sapphire laser tip (Biolase, Irvine CA) is held 3mm away from the tongue in a constant sweeping motion during treatment with passes overlapping passes in alternate direction, side to side motion and front to back motion with laser fluence on the tongue surface calculated at 3J/cm2. The settings were non ablative and non thermal.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 70 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * an individual (male or female) who can understand and voluntarily sign an informed consent form * a baseline organoleptic oral malodor score of at least 2 Exclusion Criteria: * severe caries, * signs of gingival inflammation on intraoral exam * possible extra-oral halitosis (tonsillitis, sinusitis, and pulmonary pathologic conditions, or a condition that may contribute to systemic halitosis, such as hepatic cirrhosis or uncontrolled diabetes) * antibiotic treatment within 1 month prior to study * pregnant

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Halimeter measurement

Measurement of volatile sulfur compounds in patient's breath.

Time frame: change from baseline to 1 month

Secondary Outcomes

HALT questionnaire

Quality of life (QOL) questionnaire that ranks responses. The total score is evaluated on a scale of 0-100. A score of 0 correlates to no perceived effect on QOL, and a score of 100 correlates to a severe perceived effect on QOL.