https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0955-0055
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ABSTRACT
The circadian clock modulates almost all vital aspects of our physiology and metabolism, including processes relevant to dentistry, such as healing, inflammation and nociception. Chronotherapy is an emerging field aiming to improve therapeutic efficacy and decrease adverse effects on health outcomes. This scoping review aimed to systematically map the evidence underpinning chronotherapy in dentistry and to identify gaps in knowledge. We conducted a systematic scoping search using four databases (Medline, Scopus, CINAHL and Embase). We identified 3908 target articles screened by two blinded reviewers, and only original animal and human studies investigating the chronotherapeutic use of drugs or interventions in dentistry were included. Of the 24 studies included, 19 were human studies and five were animal studies. Chrono-radiotherapy and chrono-chemotherapy reduced treatment side effects and improved therapeutic response, leading to higher survival rates in cancer patients. Animal studies reported that tooth movement and periodontal tissue response to orthodontic forces follow a diurnal rhythm that might influence bone metabolism. Profound and prolonged local anesthesia could be achieved when injected in the evening. Although the overall quality of the included studies was low, chronotherapy applications in dentistry seem to have favourable outcomes, especially in head and neck cancer treatments.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Dr Sohaib Al-Natsheh for his insightful discussions.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/07420528.2023.2200495.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization: Mohammad Abusamak, Mohammad Al-Tamimi, Haider Al-Waeli, Faleh Tamimi and Belinda Nicolau; Methodology: Martin Morris and Mohammad Abusamak; Software: Mohammad Abusamak; Validation: Mohammad Abusamak and Mohammad Al-Tamimi; Formal analysis: Mohammad Abusamak and Mohammad Al-Tamimi; Investigation: Martin Morris and Mohammad Abusamak; Resources: Mohammad Abusamak and Mohammad Al-Tamimi; Data Curation: Mohammad Abusamak, Mohammad Al-Tamimi, Kawkab Tahboub, Wenji Cai and Haider Al-Waeli; Writing – original draft preparation: Mohammad Abusamak; Writing – review and editing: Mohammad Abusamak, Mohammad Al-Tamimi, Kawkab Tahboub, Wenji Cai, Martin Morris, Faleh Tamimi and Belinda Nicolau; Visualization: Mohammad Abusamak; Supervision: Faleh Tamimi and Belinda Nicolau; Project administration: Faleh Tamimi and Belinda Nicolau; Funding acquisition: Faleh Tamimi.