Accelerated healing of gingival incisions by the helium-neon diode laser: a preliminary study.

Fifty-two extraction patients had one of two gingival flap incisions lased with a helium-neon (He-Ne) diode laser at a fluence (energy density) of 1.2 J/cm. The rate of relative healing was evaluated clinically and photographically. Seventy-nine percent of the lased incisions healed more quickly than did the control incisions. No significant difference in healing was noted when patients were compared by age, gender, race, or anatomic location of the incision. This study suggests that He-Ne diode lasers, at the above energy level, appear to increase the rate of gingival wound healing in humans, without negative side effects.