Clinical effects of potassium-titanyl-phosphate laser and photodynamic therapy on outcomes of treatment of chronic periodontitis: a randomized controlled clinical trial.

BACKGROUND

The main objective of periodontal treatment is to control infection and thereby curb disease progression. Recent studies have demonstrated that adjunctive treatment procedures, such as laser irradiation or photodynamic therapy (PDT), may provide some additional benefit in the treatment of chronic periodontitis (CP). The aim of this randomized controlled trial is to clinically evaluate and compare the clinical effects of potassium-titanyl-phosphate (KTP) laser and PDT on outcomes of CP treatment.

METHODS

Twenty-four patients with untreated CP were treated using a split-mouth study design in which the teeth in each quadrant were randomly treated by scaling and root planing (SRP) alone (group A), PDT followed by SRP (group B), or KTP laser followed by SRP (group C). The periodontal pockets were exposed to a KTP laser with the following parameters: 0.8 W output power, 50 milliseconds time on/50 milliseconds time off, 30 seconds per irradiation at 532 nm and 11.7 J/cm(2) fluence, with a flexible fiberoptic tip with a diameter of 200 µm. The selected pockets were probed with a pressure-controlled probe, guided by stents. Clinical periodontal parameters assessed included plaque index, gingival index, bleeding on probing (BOP), probing depth (PD), and clinical attachment level (CAL), which were recorded at baseline and at 6 months after therapy.

RESULTS

Statistical analysis demonstrated no differences between groups at baseline for all parameters (P >0.05). All treatments yielded significant improvements in terms of BOP and PD decrease and CAL gain compared to baseline values (P <0.05). Group C showed a greater reduction in PD compared to the other groups (P <0.05). In addition, group C showed a greater CAL gain compared to the other groups (P <0.05).

CONCLUSION

In patients with CP, clinical outcomes from conventional periodontal treatment of deeper pockets can be improved by using adjunctive KTP laser.