Periodontal Pocket Therapy Using a Class IV Dental Diode Laser in Dogs: A Retrospective Analysis

Class IV dental diode lasers have been introduced as a nonsurgical therapy for periodontal pockets in veterinary and human dentistry. This retrospective case series evaluates the use of Class IV dental diode laser therapy for abnormal periodontal pockets in a specialty veterinary dental practice. A hypothesis that the Class IV diode dental laser is a useful adjuvant modality in canine periodontal pocket therapy in the reduction of clinical pocket depth was made. This article discusses and demonstrates diode laser use in periodontal pocket therapy in a specialty veterinary dental practice and reviews the current literature. Inclusion in this study was limited to client-owned dogs with noted periodontal pocketing on any tooth type between 3 and 6 mm, which were treated with closed root planing (RP/C) and laser therapy who returned in 6 to 7 months for recheck of the pockets from the years 2017 to 2020. Twelve patients met the inclusion criteria. A total of 128 periodontal pockets were included in the study. Each periodontal pocket was a case receiving therapy. The mean periodontal pocket depth before the treatment is measured as 3.35 mm. The mean pocket depth of the periodontal pockets following treatment was 0.59 mm. The mean improvement in periodontal pocket depths after diode laser therapy when considering patient and tooth number using linear mixed-effects modeling was 2.63 mm (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.81-3.46, P < .0001). No statistically significant results were observed for pocket type, as P values were greater than .05.