Evaluation of the effects of diode (980 nm) laser on gingival inflammation after nonsurgical periodontal therapy.

INTRODUCTION Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease, for which, scaling and root planning(SRP) is the common approach for non-surgical control of inflammation. Using lasers is anotherapproach in the first phase of periodontal treatment for control of inflammation. Diode laserhas some beneficial effects such as acceleration of wound healing, promotion of angiogenesisand augmentation of growth factor release. Thus the aim of this study is the evaluation of diodelaser (980 nm) effect on gingival inflammation when it is used between the first and secondphase of periodontal treatment, in comparison with common treatment (SRP) modality alone. METHODS In this study, 21 patients with moderate to severe chronic periodontitis were selectedand divided in to control group (SRP) and test group (SRP + laser). Two months after the lastscaling and laser radiation, indexes including gingival level (GL), bleeding on probing (BOP)and modified gingival index (MGI) were recorded and compared with baseline. RESULTS Two months after the beginning of the study, all indices improved in both groups. Theindices were not different between two groups except for BOP which was lower in laser group. CONCLUSION Based on overall improvement in parameters such as superiority of laser applicationin some indices, lack of thermal damage and gingival recession with the specific settings usedin this study, the application of laser as an adjunctive treatment together with common methodsis preferable.