Er:YAG laser versus scaling and root planing as alternative or adjuvant for chronic periodontitis treatment: a systematic review

Abstract

This systematic review indicated that the clinical efficacy of Er:YAG laser was similar to SRP 3 months postoperatively. The clinical benefits of Er:YAG laser as adjuvant to SRP was still lacking. Since Er:YAG laser has certain advantages, it could be expected to be a novel short-term alternative choice for chronic periodontitis.

Clinical Efficacy of Subgingival Debridement With Adjunctive Erbium:Yttrium‐Aluminum‐Garnet Laser Treatment in Patients With Chronic Periodontitis: A Randomized Clinical Trial

“…Conversely, other clinical trials using a similar design have failed to report significant differences comparing the use of Er:YAG laser to standard root debridement, 15,29 or even inferior results for the laser therapy 30 . The systematic reviews combining the data of these clinical trials comparing laser to conventional SRP or Er:YAG laser as adjunctive therapy clearly failed to show statistically significant differences for any of the clinical parameters 31,32 . The quality analysis of these studies also indicated that many of those that showed significant benefits for the laser therapy were classified as having a high risk of bias according to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) guidelines 31 …”

Efficacy of Er:YAG laser on periodontitis as an adjunctive non‐surgical treatment: A split‐mouth randomized controlled study

“…Similarly, a recent meta‐analysis of 12 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) by Zhao et al. () suggested that Er:YAG laser monotherapy produced similar clinical improvement in PD reduction and CAL compared with SRP at 3 months. The long‐term clinical benefits of Er:YAG laser as adjuvant to SRP were still lacking.…”

Adjunctive Non‐Surgical Therapy of Inflamed Periodontal Pockets During Maintenance Therapy Using Diode Laser: A Randomized Clinical Trial

“…Almost all of the clinical studies assessing laser therapy have evaluated the active phase of periodontal treatment. Systematic and literature reviews of the laser literature are consistent in noting that the evidence is inconsistent, and there is little support for using a laser as a monotherapy or adjunctive to SRP in the initial treatment of CP 9–15 …”