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ePaper created 2018-03-14, 11:21:34 | version 1.38.0
| industry © antishock/Shutterstock.com Periodontal tissue regeneration Dr Alan Dalessandro, Dr Harvey Shiffman, Dr Steven R. Pohlhaus & Dr Larry Lieberman, USA Introduction Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease charac- terised by a progressive destruction of the supporting tis- sues of the tooth. This results in pathological lesions and may eventually lead to the loss of the tooth. Periodontitis is also associated with age-related chronic inflammatory diseases, affects general health and may increase the risk of stroke. The primary goal of non-surgical periodontal treat- ment is to eliminate bacterial infection and slow down or preferably stop the progression of the inflammatory pro- cess. Because of their better access to deep pockets, furcations, and grooves, dental lasers have been con- sidered for irradiation of periodontal pockets as an effi- cient alternative for non-surgical treatment. Various stud- ies have also demonstrated the benefits of laser therapy, including biomodulatory, anti-infective, and ablation ef- fects. Consequently, lasers today are used in the clinical nonsurgical treatment of periodontal disease, either as an adjunct or as an alternative to conventional mechan- ical instruments. laser, both as an alternative and an adjunct to mechan- ical therapy for subgingival calculus removal in nonsur- gical pocket therapy SRP. Surgical debridement with an Er:YAG laser not only facilitates the debridement proce- dure in flap surgery but also may be advantageous for tissue repair and regeneration. Based on the published favourable clinical outcomes of each of the laser treatments, i.e. Er:YAG and Nd:YAG, a combined dual-wavelength procedure called TwinLight® (also known as WPT™) has been introduced, which uti- lises the complementary beneficial effects of both laser wavelengths to further improve the clinical outcome of laser-assisted nonsurgical periodontal treatments. Peri- odontal tissue regeneration, which is considered to be the ultimate form of periodontal healing, has been demonstrated to be promoted individually with either Nd:YAG laser or Er:YAG laser being used as an adjunct to mechanical therapy. It is therefore to be expected that the TwinLight® procedure with the best of both periodontal laser treatment effects should result in at least as much, if not significantly greater promotion of periodontal tissue regeneration. There are at least two nonsurgical laser periodontal procedures which have been extensively researched and have as a result gained relatively broad clinical accep- tance. The first technique involves sulcular debridement with Nd:YAG laser, which helps achieve new connec- tive tissue attachment and regeneration of the root sur- face. The second technique involves the use of Er:YAG The aim of this four-center retrospective study was to provide clinical evidence of periodontal tissue regener- ation when following the TwinLight® procedure, by con- ducting a retrospective case series analysis of available before and after radiographic images of patients receiv- ing TwinLight® periodontal treatment, as collected during the past approximately six years. 20 1 2018