Thirty-one patients with lesions in the oral cavity were treated with CO2 and the contact type Nd-YAG laser at our clinic from November 1982 to July 1986.
1) In all cases, the irradiated regions were covered with a white coating within three days following laser surgery, and this coating decreased following epithelialization.
2) In the benign group (23 cases), the irradiated area in most cases where the lesion was under 2cm in diameter was epithelialized within three weeks, while in all cases where the area of lesion was over 3cm in diameter, complete epithelialization occurred within 50 days.
3) In the malignant group (8 cases), epithelialization of the wound tended to be delayed, especially when more than 5000cGy was used.
4) Where lesions occurred over bone, such as the hard palate or gingiva, epitheli alization took even longer. In one case of carcinoma of the gingiva there was a sequestrum and excessive granulation after surgery.
5) Both bleeding during surgery, and inflammation after surgery were minimal.
6) Two cases of tongue lesions, one hemangioma and one squamous cell carcinoma, treated with contact type Nd-YAG laser are reported.
