Diode Laser 940 nm in Management of Loss of Taste Sensation in Patients With Post SARS-CoV 2 Infection

'Long COVID' is emerging as a phenomenon where patients have long-term unresolved symptoms (8,9). These could be prolonged symptoms of SARS-CoV2 or a posteSARS-CoV2 syndrome for which dysfunction of smell and taste sensation has been proposed.

The proposal presents the diode laser 940 as possible treatment for the loss of taste sensation in patients with long SARS-CoV2. The effect of low levels of laser energy was first discovered by Dr Endre Mester in 1967.5 Since then it has been used for various applications in the field of medicine and dentistry and is broadly termed 'low level laser therapy'(LLLT) or 'biostimulation' or 'phototherapy'. It is defined as a 'non-thermal' laser light application using photons (light energy) from the visible and infrared spectrum for tissue healing and pain reduction (North American Association of Laser Therapy-NAALT). Several in vitro studies have demonstrated that the effects of laser light on wound healing are much greater than obtained with light from other sources, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs).(10-13)