A Comparative Clinical Study on Surgical Blade and Diode Laser in the Treatment of Gingival Melanin Pigmentation

BACKGROUND Gingival melanin pigmentation (GMP) is a common aesthetic concern. The gold standard for depigmentation, is surgery. Recently soft tissue lasers have gained popularity. The purpose of this study was to compare and evaluate the clinical efficacy of surgical blade and laser treatment in terms of pain perception and wound healing outcomes, 7 and 14 days following the procedures for the treatment of gingival depigmentation. METHODS This 14 day follow up comparative clinical study, utilized a split mouth design, in the anterior region. Fifteen patients with moderate to heavy bilateral gingival pigmentation were included as per the criteria by Dummett et al. The patients’ right side (group 1) was treated with surgical blade and the left side (group 2) with diode laser (Picasso, AMD LASERS™) by a trained clinician. Pain perception was assessed using Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and wound healing was assessed using clinical parameters. RESULTS Data was analysed using paired t test and Wilcoxon’s signed rank test. P value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. On day 7, more than 70 % patients had slight pain in group 1. Whereas, 47 % experienced no pain in group 2. The mean difference in VAS scores between the groups at day 7, was statistically significant. No statistically significant distinction in wound healing was observed 7 days following both procedures. No pain, and complete epithelialisation was noted in both groups on day 14. CONCLUSIONS Pain experienced by the patients was slightly more in the scalpel group compared to laser. There was no difference in wound healing between both groups. KEY WORDS GMP, Gingival Melanin Pigmentation, VAS Scale, Depigmentation, Wound Healing, Laser, Surgical Blade, Split Mouth Design