The clinical and microbial evaluation of Nd: YAG laser in periodontal pocket healing
Shahabouei M, Shirani AM, Navabakbar F, et al.J Oral Laser Appl. 2007;7(4):233-238.
Purpose:
Despite the large number of publications, there is still controversy among clinicians regarding the appli-cation of dental lasers for the treatment of chronic periodontitis. This study was therefore conducted to compareclinical and microbial results of nonsurgical periodontal therapy alone or associated with Nd:YAG laser in peri-odontal pocket healing.
Materials and Methods:
Forty-eight periodontal pockets in 6 patients suffering from generalized chronic peri-odontitis were selected. They were treated with nonsurgical periodontal therapy (supra- and subgingival ultra-sonic scaling, hand scaling and root planing). The pockets were randomly divided into two groups. For 24 pockets,Nd:YAG laser (Fidelis plus, Fotona, 300 μm fiber, 2 W, 20 Hz, 1 min, 2 times for each site and about 8x105J percm2) was applied; in the control group, no laser was applied. Clinical parameters evaluated during this study were:periodontal pocket depth, modified gingival index, bleeding on probing, clinical attachment level, and gingival re-cession. Microbiological samples from pockets were also examined for Porphyromonas gingivalis and Prevotellaintermedia. All patients were followed up for a period of two months.
Results:
There was significant improvement in all parameters after treatment in both groups, but after one ortwo months, the laser-treated group showed statistically better results than the control group. Microbial evalua-tion showed that the laser-treated group had a greater reduction of Prevotella intermedia.
Conclusion:
This clinical trial indicated that Nd:YAG laser application together with conventional methods providebetter clinical and microbial results than those obtained by conventional method alone. Keywords: nonsurgical periodontal therapy, Nd:YAG laser, clinical parameters, microbial evaluation
The clinical and microbial evaluation of Nd: YAG laser in periodontal pocket healing
