Effectiveness of Nd:YAG Laser Fiberotomy in Clinical Crown Lengthening by Forced Eruption

Crown lengthening by forced eruption is usually followed by conventional surgical procedures. The aim of the present study was to evaluate clinical use of Nd:YAG laser fiberotomy in crown lengthening by forced eruption as an alternative to surgery. Patients who needed crown lengthening were enrolled in this prospective case series and underwent forced eruption. Fiberotomy by Nd:YAG laser was performed 2 days after initiation of forced eruption and every 2 weeks afterward to reach optimum clinical crown length. Measurements included sulcus depth (SD), distance between the gingival margin and the acrylic stent (GM-S), distance from the dental tissue to the gingival margin (clinical crown length) (DT-GM), and distance from the top of the alveolar bone crest to the stent (AC-S) at the mesiofacial, midfacial, distofacial, and midlingual surfaces. A total of 20 patients (9 men and 11 women) with a mean age of 35.25 were enrolled. The SD, GM-S, and AC-S did not change significantly after fiberotomy (P = .32, P = .33, and P = .08, respectively). The DT-GM increased significantly following fiberotomy (P = .001). The results of this study showed that the location of the gingival margin and alveolar bone crest remained unchanged following fiberotomy by Nd:YAG laser during forced eruption, and that Nd:YAG laser can be used as a proper method for fiberotomy in such procedures.