Comparative Evaluation of Microsurgery vs Diode Laser Technique of Gingival Depigmentation

Plain-language summary

Gingiva being the most frequently pigmented tissue of the oral cavity challenges a lot of people with an esthetic concern. Increased production of melanin, a pigment produced by the melanocytes present in the basal and suprabasal cell layers of the epithelium leads to the hyper-pigmented appearance of these tissues. Over the decades many non-surgical as well as surgical techniques have been developed to remove the melanin induced hyper-pigmentation of gingival tissue with comparable efficacies. The surgical treatment modalities include use of scalpel, laser ablation, bur abrasion, electrocautery, cryosurgery, radio-surgery, free gingival grafts and acellular dermal matrix allograft etc. Diode lasers have frequently been used in a variety of soft tissue surgical procedures and have many advantages such as less pain, bleeding, scar formation and infection. Examined histologically, laser wounds have been resulted in less wound contracture or scarring, and ultimately improved healing. Depigmentation with lasers has become popular in recent times due to good results but requires sophisticated equipment and occupies a large space. Therefore the most practical gingival depigmentation procedure, both patient and operator wise, with satisfactory results remains the conventional scalpel (#15 blade) method. Nowadays, minimally traumatising the surgical field and gaining maximum outputs with help of microscopy and microsurgical instruments has attained a level of utmost importance in surgical procedures including periodontal therapy. Improved results in terms of increased vascularization of the grafts, relatively better percentages of root coverage a significant increase in width and thickness of keratinized tissue, an improved esthetic outcome and decreased patient morbidity in cases of gingival recession treated via microsurgical approach have been observed and well documented. However, perusal of the literature available suggests that clinical outcomes and esthetic potential of the results of gingival depigmentation using principles of microsurgery is an area of interest that still needs to be explored further. This study is therefore aimed at evaluating and comparing the clinical, esthetic and patient-related outcomes of gingival depigmentation performed using microsurgery vs diode laser technique.

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