[Effect of 660nm low power laser on pain and healing in palatal donor sites; a randomized controlled clinical trial]

Free gingival graft is one of the most predictable procedures for gingival augmentation, but patient's discomfort and pain during healing period of palatal donor site is a significant concern. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 660nm low power laser on pain and healing in palatal donor sites. The present split mouth randomized controlled clinical trial was performed in 12 patients at the department of periodontics of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Patients' allocation was done by balanced block randomization [laser group and placebo group]. In laser test group [wave length: 660 nm, power: 200mW, time of irradiation: 32s] was applied immediately post-surgery and in day 1, 2, 4 and 7 after that. In the control group, laser application was done with off power mode. Evaluation of epithelialization and healing was done with H2O2 and photograph. The number of palliative pills and bleeding was recorded. Wilcoxon test was used to analyze healing during the study. Patient's pain during study was analyzed using repeated measure ANOVA. Mc Nemar test was used to analyze bleeding. Level of statistical significance was set at 0.05. Laser group showed better epithelialization [P=0.02] and healing [P=0.01] in day 14 after surgery and showed better epithelialization in day 21[P=0.05]. No statistically differences were observed between laser group and control group in terms of bleeding and medication [P=0.51], [P=1]. According to the results of this study, the low power laser can promote palatal wound healing during the second and third week after free gingival graft procedures

Evaluation of accuracy of DIAGNOdent in diagnosis of primary and secondary caries in comparison to conventional methods

Today the prevalence of teeth decays has considerably decreased. Related organizations and institutions mention several reasons for it such as improvement of decay diagnostic equipment and tools which are even capable of detecting caries in their initial stages. This resulted in reduction of costs for patients and remarkable increase in teeth life span. There are many methods for decay diagnostic, like: visual and radiographic methods, devices with fluorescence such as Quantitative light-induced fluorescence [QLF], Vista proof, Laser fluorescence [LF or DIAGNOdent], Fluorescence Camera [FC] and Digital radiography. Although DIAGNOdent is considered a valuable device for decay diagnostic, there are concerns regarding its efficacy and accuracy. Considering the sensitivity of decay diagnosis and the exorbitant annual expenses supported by government and people for caries treatment, finding the best method for early caries detection is of the most importance. Numerous studies were performed to compare different diagnostic methods with conflicting results. The objective of this study is a comparative review of the efficiency of DIAGNOdent in comparison to visual methods and radiographic methods in the diagnostic of teeth occlusal surfaces. Search of PubMed, Google Scholar electronic resources was performed in order to find clinical trials in English in the period between 1998 and 2013. Full texts of only 35 articles were available. Considering the sensitivity and specificity reported in the different studies, it seems that DIAGNOdent is an appropriate modality for caries detection as a complementary method beside other methods and its use alone to obtain treatment plan is not enough.

Scanning electron microscope [SEM] evaluation of tooth surface irradiated by different parameters of Erbium: Yttrium Aluminium Garnet [Er:YAG] laser

The aim of this study was to investigate the Scanning Electron Microscope [SEM] analysis of tooth surface irradiated by different parameters of Er:YAG laser. 15 caries-free extracted human third molars were used in this study. The teeth were put into 5 groups for laser irradiation as follows: Group 1 [power: 2.5 W, Energy: 250 mJ]; Group 2[power: 3 W, Energy: 300 mJ]; Group 3 [power: 3.5 W, Energy: 350 mJ]; Group 4 [power: 4 W, Energy: 400 mJ]; Group 5 [power: 4.5 W, Energy: 450 mJ]. All samples were prepared by repetition rate of 10 Hz. Then, the samples were prepared for SEM examination. The SEM images showed cleaned ablated surface and exposed dentinal tubules, without production of smear layer. It can be concluded that Er:YAG laser can be an alternative technique for surface treatment and can be considered as safe as the conventional methods, like turbine and bur