effect of nonsurgical periodontal treatment combined with diode laser or photodynamic therapy on chronic periodontitis: a randomized controlled split-mouth clinical trial

introduction: the optimum removal of bacteria and their toxins from periodontal pockets is not always obtained by conventional mechanical debridement. adjunctive therapies may improve tissue healing through detoxification and bactericidal effects. the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the impact of adjunctive laser therapy (lt) and photodynamic therapy (pdt) on patients with chronic periodontitis. methods: twenty patients with at least three quadrants involved and each of them presenting pockets 4-8 mm deep were included in the study. periodontal treatment comprising scaling and root planning (srp) was accomplished for the whole mouth. applying a split-mouth design, each quadrant was randomly treated with srp alone (group a), srp with lt (group b), and srp with pdt (group c). the clinical indices were measured at baseline 6 weeks and 3 months after treatment. microbiological samples were taken and evaluated at baseline and 3-month follow-up.   results: all groups showed statistically significant improvements in terms of clinical attachment level (cal) gain, periodontal pocket depth (ppd) reduction, papilla bleeding index and microbial count compared to baseline ( p < .05). the results showed more significant improvement in the 6-week evaluation in terms of cal in groups b and c than in group a ( p < .05). group b also revealed a greater reduction in ppd than the other treatment modalities ( p < .05). conclusion: the obtained data suggested that adjunctive lt and pdt have significant short-term benefits in the treatment of chronic periodontitis. furthermore, lt showed minimal additional advantages compared to pdt.