THERMAL-INJURY PATTERNS AND TENSILE-STRENGTH OF CANINE ORAL-MUCOSA AFTER CARBON-DIOXIDE LASER INCISIONS

The amount of collateral damage in laser surgery is affected by the pr ecision of the beam delivery. To test a new control system, the author s of this study produced surgical incisions in the canine oral mucosa and then documented histologic and tensile strength changes during the wound healing process. The incisions were made by three different met hods: scalpel, manually controlled carbon dioxide (CO2) laser, and com puter-controlled CO2 laser. Both types of laser incisions took longer to heal than the scalpel incisions. The laser incisons were accompanie d by a zone of thermal damage lateral to the incision, With the comput er-controlled laser incision, the area of thermal damage was reduced, the laser-induced delay in wound healing was less, and tensile strengt h was relatively greater. The data indicate that surgical performance is improved by critical beam control.