Management of Homogeneous Oral Leukoplakia by Diode Laser and Conventional Blade: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Oral leukoplakia is a commonly seen pre-malignant lesion that appears as a white patch anywhere on the oral mucosa. Prevalence rate varies from 0.5% and 3.4% and malignant transformation ranges from 0.17% to 17.5% with a recurrence rate for local excision from 10% to 34%. Objective: To evaluate and compare the efficacy of, diode laser with surgical blade in the management of patients with oral homogeneous leukoplakia. Methods: Thirty patients with clinically diagnosed oral homogenous leukoplakia were included and treated with either diode/surgical blade and assessed postoperatively for intensity of postoperative pain and edema at 1 st , 3 rd , and 7 th day and postoperative healing at 7 th , 14 th , and 30 th day with follow-up for a period of 3 months. Results: A significant reduction in postoperative pain and swelling was found to be statistically significant ( P < 0.05) in both the groups. Student’s t -test was used for parametric continuous data, while Chi-square testing was used for categorical data. Conclusion: The diode laser group showed greater reduction in pain and better healing with less swelling as compared to surgical blade group. The study concluded that diode laser is an effective surgical treatment modality for treating oral homogeneous leukoplakia.