Separate and combined use of Nd:YAG and carbon dioxide lasers in oral surgery

The experience obtained with 789 laser interventions used in oral surgery is summarized. In the first group, 756 patients were operated on by CO 2 laser, in the second, 17 were treated with Nd:YAG laser, and in the third, 16 were treated simultaneously with both types of lasers. Among the outpatient interventions performed under local anesthesia were 233 precancerous conditions, 491 benign tumours, and 65 other lesions. Following CO 2 laser interventions, the zone of the irreversible tissue damage did not exceed 300 mum in the instance of high energy cutting; it was almost 1 mm following Nd:YAG laser cutting, and it was 500 mum when cut by a combined laser beam. The precancerous conditions can successfully be treated by CO 2 laser, especially by evaporation. The Nd:YAG laser leaves a broad necrotic zone. The combined application, however, is highly advantageous to treat vascular lesions and markedly hemophilic structures/hemangioma, epulis, tongue resection, and so forth. In oral surgery the combined use of the CO 2 and Nd:YAG laser beams is extremely beneficial due to their excellent hemostatic effect.