title: Trauma from instrumentation after non-surgical periodontal treatment with ultrasonic scalers and Nd:YAG laser.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Periodontal therapies aimed at altering the progression of periodontal diseases must include meticulous mechanical debridement during both the non-surgical and the surgical phases of periodontal treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the immediate effect of trauma from instrumentation on clinical attachment level after non-surgical periodontal treatment with ultrasonic scalers and a Nd:YAG laser.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-four patients with untreated chronic periodontitis, presenting probing depths of 4-6 mm on anterior teeth, upper and lower, were entered into the study. The selected teeth were probed with a pressure-controlled probe, guided by stents. Each quadrant was randomly allocated in a split-mouth design either to treatment with Nd:YAG laser using an energy of 1W, 100mj, 1064nm (test group) or to periodontal treatment using ultrasonic scalers (control group). Clinical parameters, including plaque index (PI), bleeding on probing (BOP), probing pocket depth (PPD) and probing attachment level (PAL) were acquired prior to and immediately after treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Statistical analysis demonstrated no differences between groups at baseline for all parameters (p > 0.05). Immediately after treatment, the control group showed a greater PAL loss than the test group (p < 0.05). For the control group, there were statistically significant differences between PAL immediately before and after treatment (p < 0.05), but not test group (p > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Within the limits of the present study, it may be concluded that non-surgical periodontal treatment with ultrasonic scalers causes a mean immediate attachment loss of 0.68 mm and that a Nd:YAG laser seems to reduce significantly the trauma the instrumentation produced.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, Atatürk University , Erzurum , Turkey.
authors.forename: Alparslan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dilsiz
authors.forename: Semanur
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sevinc
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D055113:Chronic Periodontitis / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000628:therapy*; D003774:Dental Plaque Index; D012534:Dental Scaling / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation*; D053844:Lasers, Solid-State / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D017622:Periodontal Attachment Loss / Q000145:classification*; D057747:Periodontal Debridement / Q000295:instrumentation; D010512:Periodontal Index; D010514:Periodontal Pocket / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000628:therapy; D016745:Root Planing / Q000295:instrumentation; D013357:Subgingival Curettage / Q000379:methods; D014465:Ultrasonics / Q000295:instrumentation
keywords: chronic periodontitis; laser therapy; lasers and Nd-YAG laser; periodontal attachment loss; periodontal debridement