Assessment of pain perception after conventional frenectomy with application of cold atmospheric plasma

INTRODUCTION: Frenectomy is a surgical technique that purposes to remove the unusual frenum. There are a limited number of studies examining the effect of cold atmospheric plasma on periodontal tissues. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) application on pain and discomfort in patients after conventional frenectomy operations.
METHODS: Eigthy-seven patients (38 male and 49 female, aged between 18-36 years) with mucogingival problems because of maxillary labial frenums were selected for this study. Patients were randomly divided into two groups: group 1(G1) frenectomy with conventional surgery and group 2(G2) frenectomy with conventional surgery+CAP. The frenum was held with a hemostat inserted to the depth of the vestibule and incision were placed on. After the triangular resected portion of the frenum was removed with the hemostat and wound were sutured. Conventional surgical technique was repeated for G2 and the surgical area was irradiated using CAP (kINPen 11). Visual Analog Scale(VAS) was used to rate postoperative degrees of pain and functional discomforts (chewing and speech) at 1st, 3rd, 7th and 10th days.
RESULTS: VAS score for pain was significantly lower in the G2 group as compared to the G1 on 1st, 3th, 7th and 10th days. Similarly, when the chewing and speech VAS values are compared, the values in the G2 are lower than the G1(p<0.05).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: According to these results, we can conclude that plasma reduces complications that may occur after frenectomy and these results may related to the positive effect of plasma on wound healing.