Although lasers have been used in medicine for close to three decades, their use in the field of dentistry is more common resently. Lasers are classified by their lasing medium that can be a solid, liquid, or gas. Lasers commonly used in dentistry today for soft tissue procedures are primarily the M, argon, and Neodymium : yttrium- aluminum-garnet(Nd:Yag) lasers.
Patel et at. were the first to developed the CO2 lasers. The CO2 laser works primarily in noncontact mode and is used in focused or defocused mode. In the focused mode, the laser hits the tissue at its focal point and this focused mode is used when cutting the soft tissue for excision or biopsy. In the defocused mode, the beam size has a greater diameter, thus a wider area of tissue is vapolized.
The development of CO2 laser delivery systems, such as hollow wave guide system, makes it extremely easy to access all areas of the oral cavity. COY laser energy can be delivered in a continuous mode, a pulsed mode, and also a timed mode. The CO2 laser is absorbed by water and therefore, affects all tissues that contain water regardless of color.
The clinical uses of CO, laser in dentistry are biopsy, excision of mucosal lesions, preprosthetic operation, frenectomies, and premalignat or initial malignant lesion excision. The CO: laser offer a vahty of advantages : little or no bleeding, a dry operating field, possible reduction in opreative time, reduced swelling, reduced pain, and no need for sutures. So, we report the cases in which M lasers are used for oral mucosa surgery in hour hospital.
|