# Assessment of Healing after Diode Laser Gingivectomy Prior to Prosthetic Procedures
## 4 Discussion
At the end of the 1 st week, almost 80% of the observed surfaces were pink, and at the end of the 2 nd week, all gingiva already had the quoted color. It should be explicitly noted that in our work with the diode laser with a wavelength 810 nm, a continuous mode, and a power of 1.5 W, there was not a single case of burned gingiva, which means that the correct parameters and appropriate speed were applied. The study by [PERSON], [PERSON] et al. in which the authors assessed whether the laser had advantages over electrosurgery when performing gingivectomy, there was burned gingiva in both compared groups, and it was significantly more in three of the patients after laser gingivectomy. We assume that their result was a consequence of the applied operating mode of the diode laser used (wavelength of 980 nm and power of 5 W), which quite logically led to more serious damage to the surrounding tissues [9]. Another postsurgical indicator from our study characterizing the regenerative processes after laser surgery was tissue contour. Except for the registered very slight dependatous contour of the cut gingival surface at the 24 th hour, during the other three stages of observation--at the 72 nd hour and during the 1 st week and the 2 nd week--the gingival contour was normal. Confirmation of these good results is found in the study by [PERSON] et al. on 20 patients with periodontal disease, who underwent bilateral conventional gingivectomy of the maxillary and mandibular premolars [8]. The study evaluated the recovery after gingivectomy with additional low-level laser therapy. The authors used a diode laser with a wavelength of 685 nm, in a continuous mode, and the treatment areas were irradiated immediately after surgery at the 24 th hour and on the 3 rd and 7 th days. It was found that in the control group (in which low-level laser therapy was not applied), the gingival contour was edematous and redness was present, whereas in the laser group, the gingival contour was well formed and the color was pink, which demonstrates better recovery than the control group [8]. The last postsurgical characteristic that we analyzed in our study was the appearance of the wound, which again showed a significantly accelerated healing process. At the end of the first week, in more than two-thirds of the cases observed by us, 31 of the wounds (75.6%) already had a normal pale pink color and only 10 (24.4%) had a granulated surface. At the end of the second week, all cases had a normal pink color. According to the literature, this recovery requires a minimum of 3-4 weeks, and in most of the cases it took 4-5 weeks. Similar results for accelerating the wound healing process after laser treatment were observed in other studies, such as in [8]. The mechanism of LLLT has not been fully examined, but some studies attempted to explain the effect of laser radiation on the biological structures. Numerous LLLT and PAD mechanisms that can improve wound healing have been described. They include ATP synthesis, fibroblasts proliferation, collagen synthesis, macrophages phagocytosis, and acceleration of the inflammatory phase of healing. All of these mechanisms can lead to cell proliferation and accelerate the healing process [39; 40; 41; 42]. Some authors did not support the above statements on the positive effect of lasers on biological structures. For example, [PERSON] et al., in their study, found that LLLT did not accelerate oral mucosa healing after gingivolplasty [45]. Treated and untreated gingiva did not show a statistically significant difference in terms of epithelization, inflammatory cells, collagen fibers, or number of fibroblasts [45; 46; 47]. In the context of this claim, it is well known that many parameters should be considered, such as wavelength, power, and distance from the source to the tissue, as well as clinical factors, such as radiation dose, exposure time, intensity, method, and number of exposures.