Comparative evaluation of improvement in periodontal and glycemic health status of type 2 diabetes mellitus patients after scaling and root planing with or without adjunctive use of diode laser.
BACKGROUND
Periodontal treatment in diabetic patients reduces systemic inflammatory burden and hence should be closely coordinated with the patient's overall clinical diabetic management.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effectiveness of diode laser (DL) (Biolase EpicTM, 940 nm, Irvine, CA, USA) as an adjunct to scaling root and planing (SRP) on periodontal health and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients suffering from generalized chronic periodontitis (CP), currently, stage II or above/grade B or C periodontitis.


MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY
After initial screening of 55 T2DM patients, a total of 44 T2DM-CP patients (between the age group of 30 and 65 years) were selected and randomly assigned into two groups. The groups were divided into control group (n=22), treated with scaling and root planing alone (SRP alone), and experimental group (n=22), treated with scaling and root planing along with laser therapy (SRP + DL). Laser irradiation was accomplished at perio pocket setting of 0.8 W (average) in a pulse interval of 1.0 ms and pulse length of 1.0 ms delivering 24 J of energy using a 300-μm fiber optic delivery system.


RESULTS
Thirty-seven out of 44 enrolled T2DM-CP patients completed the study. Both treatment modalities, i.e., SRP alone and SRP+DL resulted in mean significant (p < 0.001) improvement in periodontal health parameters (plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), probing pocket depth (PPD) and clinical attachment loss (CAL)) and glycemic level (RBS, FBS, and HbA1c) in T2DM-CP patients after 6 months, and was higher in SRP+DL group in comparison to SRP alone. Among the periodontal health parameters, the mean PPD reduction and CAL gain were 51.78% and 48.26% in control as compared to 61.56% and 62.54% in experimental group respectively, whereas the mean significant reduction in HbA1c was 13.8% in SRP alone and 22.52% in SRP+DL group after 6 months (p < 0.05).


CONCLUSION
Periodontal treatment involving SRP+DL contributes to improved periodontal health parameters and HbA1c level in T2DM-CP patients.
['Soi|Sunakshi|S|https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2533-6390', 'Bains|Vivek Kumar|VK|https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2232-9742', 'Srivastava|Ruchi|R|https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0485-7442', 'Madan|Rohit|R|https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2774-4125']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D055113:Chronic Periodontitis D012534:Dental Scaling D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin A D006304:Health Status D006801:Humans D054023:Lasers, Semiconductor D028022:Low-Level Light Therapy D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D010512:Periodontal Index D016745:Root Planing
Diabetes mellitus Chronic periodontitis Glycemic control Periodontal therapy