Diode Laser Clinical Efficacy and Mini-Invasivity in Surgical Exposure of Impacted Teeth

The gold standard to arrange impacted teeth in the dental arch is represented by a surgical approach followed by orthodontic traction force application. In literature, many surgical approaches are proposed to reach such scope. The aim of the present study is to demonstrate how laser technique could positively assist surgical approaches. Study population was composed by 16 patients undergoing orthodontic treatment of twenty impacted teeth. In ten cases (population A) surgical exposure of the impacted teeth was performed using a 980 nm diode laser, while in the other ten cases (population B), surgical incision was performed using a traditional lancet. Only three patients of the population A needed local anesthesia for surgical procedure while the remaining seven patients reported only faint pain during surgery. Two patients referred post-surgical pain (NRS scale average value = 2) and needed to take analgesics. None of the patients showed other post-surgical side effects (bleeding, edema). All population B patients needed infiltrative anesthesia and referred post surgical pain (NRS scale average value > 4) treated with analgesics. Moreover, in such population, four patients referred lips edema while four showed bleeding and six needed surgical sutures of soft tissues. The lack of side effects of laser surgical approach to expose impacted teeth must persuade dental practitioners to choose such clinical approach to closed surgical approach every time it is possible.