Er,Cr:YSGG Laser in Smokers With Stage III Periodontitis

Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease that affects the tissues supporting the teeth. If the disease progresses, it can cause loss of the tissues and bone around the teeth and lead to the formation of deep spaces, called periodontal pockets, between the teeth and gums. The main treatment for periodontitis is to improve oral hygiene and remove bacterial deposits and calculus from the tooth and root surfaces. Smoking is an important risk factor for periodontitis and may reduce the response to periodontal treatment by negatively affecting tissue healing. For this reason, additional treatments that may improve healing in smokers are being investigated. One of these approaches is the use of dental lasers together with conventional nonsurgical periodontal treatment. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether adding Er,Cr:YSGG laser treatment to nonsurgical periodontal therapy improves treatment outcomes in systemically healthy smokers with Stage III periodontitis. This study will use a split-mouth design, meaning that two different treatments will be compared within the same participant. One side of the mouth will receive conventional nonsurgical periodontal treatment, including scaling and root surface instrumentation. The other side will receive the same treatment together with Er,Cr:YSGG laser application. Changes in gum health, periodontal pocket depth, bone-related findings on radiographs, and biological markers related to bone metabolism will be evaluated during follow-up. The study hypothesis is that adding Er,Cr:YSGG laser treatment to conventional nonsurgical periodontal therapy will provide additional clinical, radiographic, and biochemical benefits compared with conventional nonsurgical periodontal therapy alone in smokers with Stage III periodontitis.