# Low-Level Light Therapy in Orthodontic Treatment: A Systematic Review
## 4 Discussion
### LLLT and Tooth Movement  
The primary goal of orthodontic patients is to improve their dental and facial aesthetics as quickly as possible. Typically, patients anticipate a treatment period lasting no more than one year and a half. It is frequently believed that the prolonged duration of orthodontic treatments poses a risk of treatment interruption or results in the patient's unwillingness to cooperate. Long-term orthodontic treatment entails an increase in the risk of developing cancer, gingivitis, and caries [29]. Additionally, a lengthy course of treatment may have a detrimental impact on the effectiveness of the national health system as well as private research studies. Therefore, a shorter treatment duration by acceleration of dental movement has long been a source of concern for both orthodontists and patients [38; 61]. The movement of the teeth during orthodontic treatment, or Orthodontic Tooth Movement (OTM), is a biological response to interference with the dentofacial structure's physiological balance as determined by an external force. When mechanical forces are applied during OTM, there is periodontal remodeling that is followed by an osseous remodeling that is classified as a biological mechanism that causes an immediate inflammatory response  
Figure 4: Laser irradiation by device adapted to laser equipment. and an improvement in the patient's perception of pain. This might result in a significantly reduced rate of OTM and related phenomena, such as gingivitis, tooth abscesses, and radicular absorption [37; 41]. It is crucial to ease tooth movement, which accelerates osseo-remodeling, in order to shorten the duration of orthodontic treatment [38; 61]. To reduce the length of orthodontic therapy, minimally invasive alternative therapies and methods have been developed. Mechanical vibration, corticotomy, piezocision, as well as other pharmaceutical adjuvants have all been proposed as potential methods to speed up OTM. However, despite the fact that the majority of them were effective, their use might not be clinically justified due to their intrusive nature or potential side effects [37]. Recent studies have shown that LLLT is effective in triggering remodeling processes in oral tissues that are hydrophilic and durative by virtue of its photobiostimulatory effects. The use of LLLT during OTM has been demonstrated to be helpful and effective in speeding up dental movement. In addition, it has been shown that LLLT could prevent the release of pain-related analgesic mediators and increase cellular activity during wound healing, including an increase in collagen and elastin production. The laser's biostimulating effect is most noticeable during the cellular proliferation phase [37; 41; 49]. Most studies that have evaluated the impact of LLLT on the speed of dental movement have come to the conclusion that LLLT causes an increase in dental movement [49]. The biostimulating effects of LLLT on oral tissues also result from the tissue's cellular absorption of the laser's light, which triggers the activation of intracellular signal cascades that increase cellular metabolism and alter the anti-inflammatory properties of soft and hard oral tissues. It has been demonstrated that this procedure promotes, over time, a better dental movement and the formation of osteoclasts on the compression side during the experimental dental movement, determining and improving the OTM time [37; 41]. Tooth crowding is believed to be the most common type of malocclusion [43; 51]. The leveling and lining up of such cases may take up to 8 months. In general, one of the main reasons why patients hesitate to continue their treatment is the duration of orthodontic treatment [43]. A study by [PERSON] and colleagues was launched in 2023 to examine the impact of LLLT on tooth mobility during orthodontic treatment maxillary molar distalization in a 12-week period. A total of 16 different points on the first and second molars have had laser therapy applied for 10 s at a time to an arbitrary molar area (Figure 5).