An evaluation of the Nd:YAG laser in periodontal pocket therapy

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine whether the Nd:YAG laser energies of 50 and 80 mJ at 10 pulses per second (pps) were capable of improving the clinical parameters associated with periodontal disease. These energy settings were chosen as previous work indicated that higher values would damage root surfaces and that 80 mJ had an in-vitro bactericidal effect. Eighty periodontally affected sites in teeth scheduled for extraction from 11 patients with adult periodontitis were randomly placed in one of the following four treatment groups: 1. laser treatment at 50 mJ, 10 pps for 3 minutes; 2. laser treatment at 80 mJ, 10 pps for 3 minutes; 3. scaling and 4. untreated control. Probing depth, bleeding on probing (BOP), plaque index, gingival index and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) volume were measured at baseline and week 6. Baseline subgingival microbiological samples were collected, then repeated immediately after treatment and at week 6 to assess the total anaerobic colony forming units (CFU). Only the scaling group showed a significant reduction in pocket depth and BOP (P < 0.001). The microbial samples taken immediately after scaling and laser at 80 mJ and 10 pps treatments showed a significant reduction in total CFU compared with the baseline (P < 0.01), which was sustained only in the scaling group until week 6. Electron microscopy did not reveal any heat damage on the root surfaces. This study demonstrated that application of Nd:YAG laser pulses of 50 mJ and 80 mJ failed to improve the clinical and microbiological parameters of periodontal disease.

Clinical efficacy of semiconductor laser application as an adjunct to conventional scaling and root planing

“…The clinical application of the Nd:YAG laser in the treatment of periodontitis is well documented [29,31,33,37], the results, however, are controversial. According to the studies of Ben Hatit et al [29] and Neill and Melloning [33], the use of the Nd:YAG laser in combination with scaling and root planing can significantly contribute to bacterial reduction in the treated periodontal pockets.…”

“…According to the studies of Ben Hatit et al [29] and Neill and Melloning [33], the use of the Nd:YAG laser in combination with scaling and root planing can significantly contribute to bacterial reduction in the treated periodontal pockets. Radvar et al [31], however, demonstrated that scaling and root planing yields better clinical results than Nd:YAG laser treatment alone. Liu et al [37] also demonstrated that laser therapy is less effective than traditional scaling and root and that no additional benefit was found when laser treatment was used secondary to scaling and root planing.…”

“…Laser applications in the field of periodontology have been of enormous scientific interest throughout the last decade and a variety of laser systems have been investigated in numerous in vitro [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] and in vivo studies [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]. In the treatment of inflammatory periodontal diseases, lasers may contribute to the bacterial reduction in periodontal pockets as well as to the removal of calculus and granulation tissue and can be used for contouring hyperplastic gingiva.…”

Effect of 1,064-nm Nd:YAG laser therapy on GCF IL-1β and MMP-8 levels in patients with chronic periodontitis

“…The NDL has been used in dentistry in recent decades. Several potential roles for lasers in periodontal treatment have been proposed, such as the removal of calculus, the epithelial lining of periodontal pockets, and granulomatous tissue [19][20][21][22]. It is easy to deliver the NDL by a flexible optical fiber with a contact tip of 200 μm suitable for pocket insertion [23].…”

Investigation of Thermal Changes in Dental Soft Tissue under 810 nm Low Level Diode Laser Radiation in Osseointegration

“…However, the diode laser with a wavelength of 810 nm has a suitable coagulation properties similar to Nd: YAG laser [18,19] and its feature is tissue surface adsorption with penetrate into the underlying tissues [20,21].…”