The aim of the present study was to assess the efficacy of low-intensity laser therapy (LILT) for harvesting palatal connective tissue graft (PCTG) in the treatment of gingival recession. Databases were searched up to May 2018. The addressed focused question was: Is adjunctive LILT effective in the healing of donor palatine area after harvesting PCTG? Screening of the initially identified studies resulted in four clinical studies. All studies showed that LILT was effective in improving clinical outcomes, such as tissue thickness, postoperative discomfort, remaining wound area, and visual analog score at follow up. Upon comparison with the control group, two studies showed significantly greater improvements in the clinical parameters and patient-centered outcomes for LILT than control groups at follow up. Due to the low number of included clinical studies, it remains debatable whether LILT improves clinical and patient-centered outcomes of PCTG procedures. Further randomized controlled trials are needed to evaluate the outcomes of LILT on the healing of donor palatine area after harvesting PCTG.
Keywords: connective tissue graft; donor site; laser; palatal connective tissue graft; palatal wound healing.
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.