Clinical Evaluation of Nd:YAG Laser Applications during Nonsurgical Periodontal Treatment in Patients With Chronic Periodontitis

The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical efficacy of nonsurgical periodontal treatment with and without NdYAG laser (NDL) applications in patients with chronic periodontitis (CP). The study population consisted of 30 patients with generalized CP. The study compared the clinical effects of scaling and root planing (SRP) and SRP plus NDL in periodontal pockets 4 mm with bleeding on probing (BoP) of patients with CP. The study patients were divided into two groups SRP-group and SRP + NDL group. Clinical examinations were performed immediately before SRP (the baseline) as well as 1, 5 month and 3 months after treatment. The recovery for pocket depth (PD), gingival margin and clinical attachement level were almost equal in both control and test groups. SRP plus NDL application versus SRP application alone did not lead to significant differences in any clinical parameters between the two groups of patients. Our results do not justify the use of Nd YAG laser as an adjunct to the nonsurgical periodontal treatment.