engleski

In reply (to letter to the Editor)

I am writing with regard to the plagiarism allegation made by Dr. Jacobs in his Letter to the Editor, . I deeply regret the allegation, particularly because Dr. Jacobs’s manuscript and work were cited both in the Introduction and Discussion. By using the term “novel” in our paper we did not mean "new, explained or used for the first time", but rather a technique recently published in the literature (and cited). In the sections Surgical procedure and Patient, we used the same surgical technique, as cited in the discussion, but with different laser parameters, and the incisions were started from the laser-assisted frenectomy lines. Regarding postoperative inctructions, we used the same patient description as published in the author's work, but using the same for most of our surgical patients. Similarity in sentence structures is unquestionable, but the work was also cited in the discussion part explaining the presurgical evaluation and immediate postsurgical treatment. On behalf of all authors, I express a deep regret because our intention was certainly not to plagiarize Dr. Jacobs and his father's work, but rather to use their great technique, and cite it repeatedly, for our patient with similar indications, thus showing once again the possibility of gummy smile treatment using laser-assisted surgery and avoiding invasive surgery such as orthognathic surgery. Additionally, it is virtually impossible to plagiarize the clinical case report, due to the individuality of each patient and surgical indications, as well as the differences in each surgeon's skills and experience. Furthermore, the purpose of publishing scientific and clinical papers should be the presentation of novel techniques, materials and methods, with the tendency to promote their wide acceptance by the colleagues and application in everyday clinical practice. I would like to apologize to the authors, on my personal behalf and on behalf of all my colleagues, if they felt plagiarized while our real intention was to emphasize, not to plagiarize their work.

laser; oral surgery; lip repositioning; plagiarism

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