الفهرس 
Review of literature .Only 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 116 |  |  |
| | | from | 116 | | |
Abstract
Cosmetic dentistry is usually centered on esthetic restorative procedures but it may also involve the appearance of the gingiva, especially when it is located in the anterior labial region. Physiologic gingival hyperpigmentation affects numerous people of different ethnic backgrounds.
Gingival depigmentation is a periodontal plastic procedure to reduce or remove melanin gingival hyperpigmentation by different methods. Some methods aimed at removing the pigmented gingiva and others aimed at masking the pigmented gingiva.
This study was conducted in order to compare the effectiveness of diode laser and intramucosal injection of vitamin C on melanin gingival hyperpigmentation clinically and histologically.
Ten patients seeking treatment for their gingival hyperpigmentation for esthetic reasons were included in this study. A total number of 20 sites of facial gingival hyperpigmentation were treated, two in each patient in a split mouth technique.
group A included 10 sites of gingival hyperpigmentation that were treated using intramucosal injection of ascorbic acid. While the other group included 10 sites of gingival hyperpigmentation were treated using Diode Laser.
The clinical outcomes were assessed four times for each patient; at baseline (pre-operative), one week after last session, three and six months post-operatively. Clinical assessment was done by measuring DOPI, ΔL by spectrophotometer and patient satisfaction questionnaire.
For histological assessment biopsies were taken for each patient in two occasions: the first before starting treatment (baseline) and the second was taken from the same side after 6 months. The slides were stained with Fontana Masson stain and captured using digital camera which was mounted on a light microscope, then transferred to the computer system for measuring the area fraction of black Fontana Masson automatically using Image J, 1.41a, image analysis software.
Results demonstrated that in group A the mean value of DOPI decreased significantly from 2.3±0.48 to 1.1±0.57 while in group B it decreased significantly from 2.6±0.52 to 0.9±0.7. As regards ΔL the mean value increased from -21.85±10.65 to -13.56±6.89 in group A and from -24.34±6.18 to -12.34±6.18 in group B, from baseline till one month post treatment and this increasing was statistically significant in each group.
No changes were observed in the DOPI mean value in group A after three and six months post treatment. However it increased from 0.5±0.53 to 0.7±0.7 in group B. In addition, ΔL mean values among group A showed nonsignificant minute change (slightly increased after three months and then decreased after six months) during follow up, while it significantly decreased in group B.
Histopathological assessment revealed that both treatment modalities caused significant decreasing in MAF of melanin gingival hyperpigmentation after six months post treatment but there was no significant difference in the results between the two studied groups.