Histomorphometric Evaluation of the Effects of Mandibular Advancement Appliance and Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) with Different Doses on Condylar Cartilage and Subchondral Bone in Rats

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of mandibular advancement appliance and low level laser therapy (LLLT) with different doses on cellular hypertrophic changes in the mandibular condyle of rats. Forty-eight 8-week-old male Wistar albino rats weighing between 260 and 280 g were randomly divided into four experimental and control groups. Group I was the control group; group II was the mandibular advancement appliance group; group III was the 8 J/cm2 (0.25 W, 20 s) laser irradiation with mandibular advancement appliance group; and group IV was the 10 J/cm2 (0.25 W, 25 s) laser irradiation with mandibular advancement appliance group. Mandibular condyle cartilage and subchondral bone changes with different LLLT dose and mandibular advancement appliance were evaluated by histomorphometrical analysis. Subchondral bone fraction results showed that there were no significant differences between groups (p