Evaluation of cutting accuracy and thermal damage in oral soft tissue using different surgical techniques

To evaluate the cutting accuracy and thermal damage in oral soft tissue using different cutting techniques. Sixty specimens of sheep oral mucosa tissue, with the dimensions of 2.0 cm in length and 1.5 cm in width were prepared and divided into six groups (n = 10) representing different cutting technique. Incisions were made by sectioning each specimen using the 2000 nm continuous-wave (CW) silica based thulium-doped fibre (TDF) laser (Group A), the 1550 nm CW silica based Erbium/Ytterbium-doped fibre (EYDF) laser (Group B), electrosurgery (Group C), 980 nm diode laser (Group D), 2000 nm ultrashort-pulsed (USP) silica based TDF laser (Group E), and the scalpel (Group F or control group). Each specimen was measured for average roughness value (Ra) and thermal damage, reported as mean and standard deviation. A one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey's HSD test was performed to determine significant differences among six groups, with a significance level set at p < 0.05. Among the energy-based groups, the 2000 nm USP silica based TDF laser (Group E) exhibited the lowest Ra (1.22 ± 0.71 μm) and minimal thermal damage (9.85 ± 4.01%). In contrast, the highest Ra (4.82 ± 1.36 μm) was observed in the electrosurgery (Group C), while the highest thermal damage (16.73 ± 4.57%) was recorded in the 1550 nm CW silica based EYDF laser (Group B). One-way ANOVA revealed statistically significant differences among the groups in both average roughness (F = 45.45, p < 0.001) and thermal damage (F = 11.84, p < 0.001). The findings suggest that the 2000 nm USP silica based TDF laser offers superior cutting accuracy with minimal impact of thermal damage, supporting its potential adoption into clinical protocols for oral soft tissue surgery.