# Assessment of Healing after Diode Laser Gingivectomy Prior to Prosthetic Procedures
## 4 Discussion
The authors describe that in a group in which the surgery was performed with a diode laser with a wavelength of 980 nm, in 17.6% of the patients there was no bleeding, and it was self-limiting in the rest, 82.4%. It should be noted that the following additional characteristic of bleeding during the procedure was reported in our study--requiring slight pressure to terminate it' (in 10 of the cases--24.4%)--and the abovementioned authors did not cite this variant of the indicator, due to which the comparison of the specific variable was not accurate enough [7; 8; 9; 10; 41]. Another intraoperative characteristic analyzed in our study was the tissue adherence to the instrument during the manipulation. In 36 of the cases (87.8%), a small amount of tissue adhered to the instrument, which allowed it to be easily cleaned with damp gauze. Completely similar to our data was the result of [PERSON], [PERSON] et al., where this process was observed in 15 of their cases (88.2%) [9]. The examination of the postoperative pain level (VAS scale scores) in our study showed slightly lower levels of pain during the observed periods (Table 4) than for the above citedauthors. We assume that this difference was due to the fact that the diode laser with which the other researchers work was with a higher wavelength of 980 nm, compared to ours, which was 810 nm. It is known that the longer the wavelength, the more the damage to the surrounding tissues (i.e., thermal destruction), and low-frequency lasers mainly have a regenerating effect on the treated biological structures. When comparing the level of pain after moderate chronical periodontitis treatment with an Er:YAG laser and Gracey curettes, it was found that the pain in the laser-treated group was two times lower than in the control group. Extremely low pain levels were also found in other studies [12; 17]. Another indicator characterizing the postoperative condition of the treated area was postoperative hemorrhage on probing. Reduction of postoperative hemorrhage on probing after treatment with different kinds of lasers was reported in several scientific studies [14]. [PERSON], [PERSON] et al. found that it was more significantly reduced in the laser-treated group than in conventionally treated cases [44]. The researchers concluded that the Er:YAG laser was as effective in nonsurgical periodontal treatment of chronic periodontitis as in conventional scaling and root planing with manual instruments. [PERSON] et al. demonstrated that the positive results after the Er:YAG laser therapy could be maintained for a period of 2 years [44]. In a clinical (randomized controlled) trial with a split mouth design, covering 12 months of follow-up, the clinical efficacy of an Er:YAG laser and Gracey curettes in the treatment of moderate chronical periodontitis was examined. The author found that 'Instrumentation with an Er:YAG laser results in a significant reduction of the pocket depth on probing, bleeding on probing, as well as clinical attachment gain.' The obtained results remained significantly lower a year after the therapy, compared to their values in the initial clinical trial [17]. In the present study, postoperative hemorrhage on probing after diode laser gingivectomy was examined at a much earlier and shorter stage after treatment, and in this case, it was not a sign of inflammation but reflected its faster and better therapeutic efficacy (i.e., accelerated tissue regenerative capacity). The next analyzed postsurgical characteristic, evaluating the healing process, was gingival tissue color. The results from our study demonstrate that at the 24 th hour, 10 of the gingival surfaces (24.4%) were red and 31 of them (75.6%) whitened--indicating coagulation--an indirect characteristic that the intervention was performed with the correct parameters. At the 72 nd hour, in almost all cases--37 (90.2%)--the gingiva was red; there were 2 cases (4.9%) with pink and 2 cases (4.9%) with a whitened color.