Effect of laser application in the healing of intrabony defects treated with bioactive glass

AIMS: Presence of bacteria within the environment of infrabony pockets affects healing during their treatment. Present investigation utilized a diode laser for pocket sanitization before the placement of bone biomaterial with the aim of enhancing the healing. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twelve patients with bilateral intrabony defects participated in a split-mouth study design. Control group received biomaterial application only after surgical debridement. Infrabony pockets in the test group were irradiated with 810-nm diode laser at 0.8 W, continuous wave for 20 s before surgical debridement and biomaterial application. Healing was assessed using clinical and radiologic parameters. RESULTS: Control group showed mean probing depth (PD) reduction of 3.25 ± 0.62 at 3, 4.08 ± 0.90 mm at 6 months. 3.00 ± 0.73 at 3, 3.91 ± 0.66 mm at 6 months reduction in mean PD was seen in the test group (P < 0.001). No statistically significant differences between the groups were observed. A gain of 2.50 ± 0.67 at 3, 3.25 ± 0.62 mm at 6 months in relative clinical attachment level was seen in the control and of 2.33 ± 0.77 at 3, 3.16 ± 0.57 mm at 6 months in the test group (P < 0.001) without significant differences between groups. 1.33 ± 0.57 and 0.95 ± 0.68 mm hard-tissue fill (difference in the radiographic distance between cementoenamel junction and base of the intrabony defect pre- and post-operative) at 6 months was observed in the control and test groups, respectively (P < 0.001). Between groups differences (0.22 ± 0.24 mm) were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Similar reduction in soft- and hard-tissue parameters in both groups indicates that adjunctive pocket sanitization with diode laser did not improve the healing of intrabony defects treated with bioactive glass.