Diode Laser in the Management of Foliate Papillitis – Two Case Reports

The human tongue consists of various kinds of papillae which form its characteristic morphology. Among these papillae, the foliate papillae may become enlarged and inflamed causing a condition called as foliate papillitis. The treatment of this disease includes relieving all causes of trauma such as sharp teeth, ill-fitting dentures, etc., to the region. However, for several patients, the symptoms of foliate papillitis remain even after the conservative treatment is done. For two of these patients, we have used IMDSL dental diode laser of 980 nm to ablate the enlarged foliate papillae to relieve the symptoms of pain. Both the patients were recalled after one month during which time they were free of symptoms with total healing of the ablated site. One year later, during follow-up, both the patients remained symptom free. We believe this is the first time that diode laser has been used for the treatment of foliate papillitis.