Laser therapy: the future of peri-implantitis management?

ABSTRACT

Background: Peri-implantitis is an inflammatory process that leads to a loss of supporting bone around an osseointegrated implant. Currently, there is no standard of care for the treatment of peri-implantitis and clinicians are faced with a myriad of treatment choices. Aim: To evaluate articles from the previous ten years that have investigated the use of lasers in the treatment of peri-implantitis. Materials and Methods: The Pubmed electronic database of the US National Library of Medicine was used to search for articles relating to the use of lasers in the treatment of peri implantitis. Results were limited to ten years, and English articles only. Results: Ten articles were selected for review. These studies demonstrated positive treatment outcomes after 6 months with CO2 and ErYAG lasers, however studies with follow-up of greater than 6 months showed that initial positive outcomes were not maintained throughout the observation period, coinciding with raised plaque index and bleeding scores. Conclusion: The short-term value of laser treatment has been documented, however the authors would like to see in vivo case studies demonstrating ErYAG, CO2 and diode laser treatment of peri-implantitis with follow-up of at least 12 months, and regular observation periods.