Laser gingivectomy for pediatrics

Traditional gingivectomy procedures have been a challenge for pediatric dentists who confront issues of patient cooperation and discomfort. Treatment of pediatric patients must involve minimal operative and postoperative discomfort. Laser soft-tissue surgery has been shown to be well accepted by children. For the pediatric patient, the greatest advantage of the laser is the lack of local anesthesia injection and the associated pre- and postoperative discomfort. The following case report describes a gingivectomy procedure performed on a 14-year-old female.