Clinical Efficacy of Soft Tissue Trimmer Versus Conventional Surgical Excision of Gingival Hyperplasia on Postoperative Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate postoperative pain after gingivectomy procedures using soft tissue trimmer compared to conventional scalpel technique in gingival hyperplasia. Subjects and methods: Twenty-eight patients with inflammatory gingival hyperplasia or uneven gingival margins in anterior teeth region were randomly allocated into two groups; Group A (control group) included 14 patients that were treated with gingivectomy using conventional surgical blade. Group B (test group) included 14 patients that were treated by gingivectomy using soft tissue trimmer. VAS pain score was used to measure postoperative pain at 1, 3, 5 and 7th day. Results: Regarding post-operative pain intensity, the results of the present study revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between the tested groups (P <0.001) after one day. After 3 days (P =0.069), 5 days (P =0.63) and 7 days (P =0.32), there was no statistically significant difference between the tested groups. Conclusion: Gingivectomy and gingivoplasty procedures using soft tissue trimmer could be a promising and fast approach with less significant post-operative pain scores compared to the surgical blade. Intra-operative bleeding is minimized with immediate coagulation and improved wound healing using the soft tissue trimmer resulting in less postoperative pain.