A comparative wound healing study following gingivectomy by electrosurgery and knives

Using a split mouth technique and random selection of operative techniques, gingivectomy was performed from first premolar to first premolar by electrosurgery on one side and by periodontal knives on the other side on thirty occasions. By clinical, photographic, cytological and histological methods of evaluation plus crevicular fluid measurement, no differences in healing between the two surgical modalities over a three week period were demonstrated, Little post‐operative pain was experienced but where there was pain it did not differ in severity between the two surgical procedures.