Minimizing patient morbidity after free gingival graft harvesting:A triple‐blind randomized‐controlled clinical trial

Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the effect of photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) on patient morbidity and donor site healing after free gingival graft (FGG) harvesting. Methods Forty‐four patients requiring FGG were selected for this trial. Individuals were randomly assigned to test group (PBMT, n = 22) or control group (placebo, n = 22) applied immediately after surgery, 24 and 48 h after. Demographic, surgical‐related and psychosocial variables possibly associated with treatment response were collected. The primary outcome was postoperative pain at the donor site evaluated using Visual Analog Scale (VAS) immediately after surgery and 6, 24, 48 and 72 h after. Secondary outcomes include medication consumption, patient‐reported outcome measures (PROMs) and percentage of wound closure. Results Intragroup analysis showed no differences in VASLOG means for placebo group throughout the study (p > .05), whereas a significant difference in PBMT group at 6 h, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h (p