Laser Treatment of Inflammations

Laser in periodontitis

Laser is the acronym of the words “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”. The pathogenesis of periodontal disease and the methods of treating it have undergone radical changes in the past 30 years. The current model for periodontal disease includes microbial components, host inflammatory responses, and host risk factors that contribute to the advancement of this disease. Soft tissue lasers are a good choice for bacterial reduction and coagulation in the treatment sequence. These properties of the soft tissue lasers make them an excellent choice to use in a periodontally involved sulcus that has dark inflamed tissue and pigmented bacteria.

What are the advantages of using lazer in the periodontal treatments, compared with traditional treatment methods for periodontal disease?

For those patients who require surgical treatment of periodontal disease, to create access for root debridement, reducing/abolishing periodontal pockets and tissue regeneration facilitation, lazer protocol benefits compared with conventional periodontal surgery procedures includes:

• Shorter treatment time.
• Minimal discomfort and most of the time no pain post-surgery .
• No post-surgery bleeding, no swelling or bruising, fast recovery for the patient (doesn’t have to interrupt socio-professional activities).
• No retraction or minimum retraction of soft tissues (gingival recession).
• No post-treatment dental sensibility.
• No cosmetic change in the patient’s smile (retraction, burned gums, etc.).
• Final result, meaning pocket depth reduction – comparable with the result of classic and more aggressive procedures (surgical).

The use of surgical lasers has been advocated to aid in the placement and second stage recovery of dental implants, together with soft tissue contouring. In addition, laser use has been suggested as an aid in decontamination of the implant surface in cases of peri-implantitis. In endodontics, the association of laser energy with dentine hypersensitivity, bacteriocidal action and pulp-capping, has led to a growing number of reports as to its beneficial use, together with claims of morphological changes in the canal wall, to enhance endodontic treatment success.