ABSTRACT
Background: Chronic periodontitis was identified as a widespread inflammatory disease, which targets teeth support structures, and its major cause is the accumulation of bacterial plaque. Traditional scaling and root planing (SRP) had served as the traditional non-surgery. Nonetheless, a diode laser treatment had become an interesting adjuvant therapy, because of its bactericidal actions, inflammation decreasing, and wound healing effects. Comparisons between treatments were necessary in order to determine the clinical effectiveness of these modalities in the treatment of chronic periodontitis.
Aim: The purpose of the study was to test the therapeutic effect of a diode laser in comparison to standard scaling and root planning in treating chronic periodontitis.Methods: This comparative clinical study was set up in one clinical institution, Hamdard College of Medicine and Dentistry during a period between July 2024 and June 2025. The population of the study included 80 patients diagnosed with moderate and severe chronic periodontitis that were separated into two equally substantial groups. The researcher used Group A where they treated patients with diode laser therapy and Group B that was treated with conventional SRP. The clinical parameters, namely probing pocket depth (PPD), clinical attachment level (CAL), and bleeding on probing (BOP) as well as the plaque index (PI) at baseline and at three months of treatment period were recorded. Statistics was applied to analyze data with suitable statistical test to find intra and intergroup difference.
Results: Both groups showed a significant clinical parameter improvement in all parameters between the baseline and the three-month follow-up. Nevertheless, the diode laser group had displayed a more extensive decrease in PPD and BOP, as well as increased gain in CAL than the SRP group, with the mentioned differences being statistically significant (p < 0.05). There was improvement in plaque index in the two groups without any significant difference between groups.
Conclusion: The diode laser treatment was found to be a useful treatment approach in chronic periodontitis whose effects were better in terms of inflammation control and attachment levels when compared to the standard scaling and root planning. As much as SRP remained a worthy standard treatment, the supplemental use of the diode laser might have more beneficial effects at a clinical level.
Keywords: Chronic periodontitis, diode laser, scaling and root planing, periodontal therapy, clinical outcomes.