title: Coronally advanced flap adjunct with low intensity laser therapy: a randomized controlled clinical pilot study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Coronally advanced flap (CAF) technique and its modifications have been proposed in the literature. Low intensity laser therapy (LILT) is shown to increase wound healing. The aim of this split-mouth randomized controlled pilot study was to assess the effects of LILT with respect to root coverage after CAF procedure for the treatment of multiple-recession type defects (MRTD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten patients with symmetrical 74 Miller I and II gingival recessions were included in this study (37 in test, 37 in control group). A diode laser (588 nm) was applied to test sites before and immediately after surgery, and for 5 min. daily 7 days post-operatively. Comparisons of the surgical sites were made with clinical measurements.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Statistically significant differences were observed between test and control sites in the gingival recession depth (GRD), gingival recession width (GRW) and width of the keratinized tissue (WKT) and clinical attachment level (CAL) measurements after 1 year (p = 0.014, p = 0.015, p = 0.009 and p = 0.018 respectively). The test group presented greater complete root coverage (n = 7, 70%) compared with the control group (n = 3, 30%) after treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Within the limitations of this study, the results indicated that LILT may improve the predictability of CAF in multiple recessions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey. sozturan@cu.edu.tr
authors.forename: Seda
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ozturan
authors.forename: Sulhi Andac
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Durukan
authors.forename: Onur
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ozcelik
authors.forename: Gulsah
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Seydaoglu
authors.forename: Mehmet Cenk
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Haytac
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D005889:Gingival Recession / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D054023:Lasers, Semiconductor / Q000627:therapeutic use; D028022:Low-Level Light Therapy; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013524:Surgical Flaps