Efficacy of photodynamic therapy in the treatment of oral candidiasis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

To evaluate the clinical efficacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT) as an adjunct or alternative to traditional antifungal drugs in the treatment of oral candidiasis, and to provide evidence-based medical evidence for its use in the treatment of oral candidiasis. Computer combined with manual retrieval of China Academic Journals Full-text Database (CNKI), China Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Chinese Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), Wanfang Database, PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, Scopus retrieval for articles published before January 2023, basic information and required data were extracted according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the Revman V5.4 software was used to conduct Meta-analysis of the included literature. A total of 11 articles were included, 7 of which used nystatin as an antifungal drug, 2 of which were combined treatment of PDT and nystatin, 2 of the remaining 4 articles were treated with fluconazole, and 2 were treated with miconazole. Meta results showed that PDT was superior to nystatin in reducing the number of oral candida colonies in the palate of patients MD = -0.87, 95