BACKGROUND: Subgingival plaque is the initiating factor for Chronic Periodontitis (CP). Therefore
initial measures consist of Non-Surgical Periodontal Therapy (NSPT). The use of lasers as adjuvants to
NSPT has gained preference for many years now. However it has not been completely validated. So, we studied the efcacy of
diode laser (DL), as adjunct to NSPT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 50 subjects, aged 35-65 years with moderate CP (5-8 mm
pocket depth), based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, 25 patients were selected and randomly allocated to two groups; the
rst group, control group (CG), treated by NSPT; and 25 in the second test group, (TG), received NSPT followed by DL
irradiation. Assessment was conducted for gingival index (GI), bleeding on probing (BOP), clinical attachment level (CAL), and
probing pocket depth (PPD) at baseline (B/L), 1, 3, 6, and 9 months. RESULTS: There was improvement of all clinical parameters
in both the groups, but was more statistically signicant in the TG. CONCLUSIONS: The application of adjunctive 980nm DL
improves clinical parameters including GI, CAL, PPD and most markedly, BOP.