Diode laser for harvesting de-epithelialized palatal graft in the treatment of gingival recession defects: a randomized clinical trial.

Abstract

The aim of present randomized controlled clinical study was to evaluate the effects of the use of diode laser for graft harvesting and palatal wound irradiation on post-operative morbidity and root coverage outcomes after a coronally advanced flap (CAF) with de-epithelialized gingival grafts (DGG). Fifty-two patients with isolated recessions were treated. The CTG resulted from the de-epithelialization of a free gingival graft (FGG) with blade (control group:DGG-B) or diode laser (DL) (test group:DGG-L). The DL was used to de-epithelialize the outer part of the FGG and photo-biostimulate the palatal wound area. Post-operative morbidity was evaluated by using Oral Health-related Quality of Life (OHQoL) and Visual Analogue Scale-discomfort (VAS). Root coverage outcomes were also evaluated 6 months after operation. Statistically significant differences were found for OHQoL (p = 0.0001) and VAS (p = 0.0001) at the 7th day post-operatively favouring test sites. Root coverage results did not show a statistically significant difference. While both techniques were effective with regard to root coverage at 6 months, the DGG-L technique decreased post-operative morbidity associated with palatal donor-site surgery.