Dental esthetic needs are increasing in recent years with a greater demand on pleasant appearance; including a healthy set of dentitions but also esthetically improved gingival appearance, especially when it is located in the anterior labial region. Physiologic gingival hyperpigmentation affects numerous people of different ethnic backgrounds.~Gingival depigmentation is defined as a periodontal plastic surgical procedure that are aimed at removing the pigmented gingiva and methods aimed at masking the pigmented gingiva. Techniques of gingival depigmentation can be classified as; chemical methods mainly by ascorbic acids, surgical methods, electrosurgery, cryosurgery, radiosurgery, and lasers.~The study was conducted on eight patients seeking treatment for their gingival hyperpigmentation for esthetic reasons. A total number of 16 sites of facial gingival hyperpigmentation were treated, two in each patient in a split mouth technique.~Group I (LASER with I-PRF): Included eight sites that were treated with laser technique for gingival depigmentation, followed by intramucosal field injection of I-PRF (as study group).~Group II (LASER): Included eight sites that were treated with laser technique for gingival depigmentation (as a control group).~The clinical outcomes were assessed for each patient: at baseline (pre-operative), post-operative, one week, one month. Clinical assessment was done by measuring DOPI, clinical wound healing, VAS and patient satisfaction questionnaire.
The objectives of the present study are to:~Evaluate the effect of I-PRF injection following laser gingival depigmentation technique on the healing period as a primary objective.~Assess patient satisfaction following the procedure in terms of pain and esthetic outcome as a secondary objective.