Abstract
The aim of this review is to evaluate the outcome, postoperative pain and recurrence rate of different techniques used for gingival depigmentation, including scalpel surgery, rotary abrasion, gingival graft, laser, cryosurgery and electrosurgery. Dentistry is greatly involved in facial aesthetics and appearance. Gingival pigmentation has a great impact on patients' smile and self-confidence. Different depigmentation techniques have been proposed in order to eliminate gingival hyperpigmentation and improve gingival color. Many reports have discussed and compared the efficacy of each technique. An electronic search was carried out in the following databases: pubmed, midline, web of science, science direct. Animal studies, patients with systemic treatment of gingival pigmentation, disease patients who consumed melanin-related drugs were excluded from the review. Diode laser has shown to have a good aesthetics and a low recurrence rate. However, further studies with longer follow-up duration are required to improve the understanding of repigmentation.