Subjective intensity of pain during supportive periodontal treatment using a sonic scaler or an Er:YAG laser

Braun A, Jepsen S, Deimling D, Ratka‐Krüger P. Subjective intensity of pain during supportive periodontal treatment using a sonic scaler or an Er:YAG laser. J Clin Periodontol 2010; 37: 340–345. doi: 10.1111/j.1600‐051X.2010.01536.x Abstract Objective: To assess the subjective intensities of pain during supportive periodontal treatment using a sonic scaler or an Er:YAG laser. Material and Methods: Forty patients with two residual periodontal pockets following conventional periodontal therapy were treated using a sonic scaler and an Er:YAG laser in a split‐mouth design. A visual analogue scale was used for pain assessment directly after each treatment procedure. Additionally, pain was recorded during the treatment of 11 patients at intervals of 0.5 s using an inter‐modal intensity comparison. Results: Pain assessment during treatment showed that laser treatment (median pain score: 0.71 U, maximum: 9.94 U, minimum: 0 U) caused less pain than the sonic device (median pain score: 2.17 U, maximum: 11.26 U, minimum: 0 U) ( p <0.05) with no difference in the treatment time ( p >0.05). These results could be confirmed by the visual analogue scale: pain scores assessed after laser treatment (median: 1 U, maximum: 7 U, minimum: 0 U) were lower than those after sonic instrumentation (median: 3.5 U, maximum: 7.5 U, minimum: 0 U) ( p <0.05). Conclusions: Using an Er:YAG laser during supportive periodontal treatment, painful sensations can be reduced compared with sonic scaler instrumentation.