Introduction.Scalpels have been used for many decades due to their convenience, the application of lasers to dental soft tissues surrounding or covering implants offering a series of new advantages for the patient over its predecessor, like decreased risk of infection, no need for suturing, reduced bleeding and anaesthetics, and less pain. Aim.The study aims at comparing healing obtained with conventional scalpel versus diode laser used for implant stage 2 recovery, by the Wound Healing Index. Materials and Methods.A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted using established records of successfully placed healing abutments following stage 2 recovery of dental implants in the mandibular posterior tooth region, as mentioned in the hospital’s online database from Saveetha Dental College between April 2020 and March 2021. Relevant data, such as patient age, sex, type of recovery technique used and also healing pictures and their notes for scoring was collected and recorded in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet which was later exported to the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences for Windows (Version 20.0, SPSS, Inc., Chicago, U.S.A.) for statistical analysis. Results and discussion. Our results suggest that ‘Poor’ healing was more often recorded in the conventional scalpel group (11.67%), while ‘Excellent’ healing was most frequently noticed in the laser diode group (13.33%), as supported by the statistically significant results obtained through our independent samples Mann-Whitney U test association, where p=0.04. Conclusions.Within the limits of the current study, the conclusion reached was that healing following diode laser-assisted stage 2 implant uncovery is superior to that noticed during conventional scalpel use, thus appearing as a better alternative.
Keywords:- dental implants
- Diode Laser
- innovative osseointegration
- Wound Healing Index