The application of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT, 670 nm) and diode laser (940 nm) as adjunctive approach in the conventional cause-related treatment of chronic periodontal disease: a randomized controlled split-mouth clinical trial.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present randomized controlled split-mouth clinical trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of the adjunctive use of photodynamic low-level laser therapy (670 nm), applying methylene blue as photosensitizer, and the effectiveness of a diode laser (940 nm) compared with conventional non-surgical mechanical treatment in a group of patients with chronic periodontal disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-one patients with moderate to severe periodontal disease with presence of 3 or more quadrants, each containing at least three sites with periodontal pocket depth (PPD) of >/= 5 mm, were included in the study. Periodontal treatment comprising scaling and root planing (SRP) was accomplished for the whole mouth. Applying a split-mouth design, each quadrant was randomly treated with SRP alone (control group), SRP with diode laser (diode group), and SRP with photodynamic therapy (photodynamic group). RESULTS: All treatment modalities in this study lead to statistically significant improvements in the evaluated clinical parameters at 3 months and 6 months compared with baseline. There was no statistically significant difference regarding PD and BOP between groups. There was only a tendency for greater reduction of PD in the diode group for deep pockets at 3 months, but not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: After 6 months of evaluation, the high intensity diode laser and the antimicrobial photodynamic therapy have not shown any additional benefits to the conventional periodontal treatment. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The diode or photodynamic laser therapy in conjunction with conventional SRP does not seem to be superior in reducing probing depth and bleeding on probing than SRP alone 6 months after treatment. More studies are necessary to prove the actual need of these types of lasers in the periodontal clinical practice.