Clinical and antimicrobial effectiveness of diode laser therapy as an adjunct to non-surgical periodontal treatment: A clinical-microbiological study

Aim: The clinical and antimicrobial efficacy of diode laser as an adjunct to scaling and root planing (SRP) was evaluated in chronic periodontitis patients. Materials and Methods: The study included 8 Chronic periodontitis patients, of which 72 sites were randomly assigned into three groups; Group I : Scaling & root planing (SRP), Group II : Laser (L), Group III : Scaling & root planing followed by laser (SRP + L). The clinical parameters included were Plaque Index (PI), Gingival Index (GI), Bleeding on probing (BoP), Probing depth (PD) & Clinical attachment level (CAL) & subgingival plaque samples were taken for the microbiological assessment of the major periodontopathic bacteria (S.Mutans, P.Gingivalis, P.Intermedia, T.Denticola, T.Forsythia).These parameters were evaluated at baseline, 4weeks & 8weeks except for PD & CAL which were evaluated at baseline & 8 weeks. Results: The clinical parameters showed significant reductions after 4weeks & 8weeks, in which the SRP+L group showed statistically significant reduction for PI, GI, BOP, PD & CAL compared to the other two groups. Also, the SRP group showed greater reductions compared to the laser group. The microbiological analysis also showed statistically significant reductions of the microbial colony count for the SRP+L group compared to the other two groups. Conclusion: The use of diode laser as an adjunct to scaling & root planning may lead to improvement of clinical parameters as well as the reduction of the microbial load and therefore a potential advantage over SRP alone.